The Surrogate
by Birdwatched
Summary: Dr. Louis retrieved and saved Max, Fang, Iggy, and Ella from separate branches of Itex four years ago, when the whitecoats planned to get Max pregnant and start a line of new avian hybrids. With Lou dead now, can the four stay under the radar enough to just survive?
1. Iggy Was A Special Child

**Hey, guys, here's a new story. I got bored one evening and came up with the idea of this one. It's kind of strange, but it seems like something that I'll probably enjoy writing through to the end :) I hope that you like it, and don't forget to review!**

**I do not own any of the work of James Patterson, and I do not own Maximum Ride. However, I do own individual copies of all the books which I can say that I own the right to read, and the right to create from the characters and adapt their personalities and attributes as I see fit.**

**Max, Fang, and Iggy are 17.**

**Ella is 16. **

**Bang.**

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><p>Sunlight drifted through the window of the small, run-down house. In fact, it was very small, and very run down. Very. This solace held a secret which had been overgrown and overshadowed by the very weeds and ivy which had nearly encompassed the shack altogether. This was why Max loved it so much – it was discreet. It was a long-abandoned cabin which was located high in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, and Max didn't blame the people who'd owned it before for leaving it. No running water, and no electricity, and not to mention the frigid temperature they'd all become accustomed to enduring in the harsh winter months. It had been made out of logs, traditionally, but the inside was lined with plaster and white-washed paint which had long since, you know, not been white. It wasn't very big, either, just two bedrooms, a living room, washroom, and a kitchen. No shower, and no toilets, although there was a washbin which one could always fill with water heated on the wood-burning stove. In the summer, they always bathed in the Lake, but in the winter, they'd take turns in the old tin. There was a fireplace, too, which mostly brought cold air in.<p>

It had been three years ago today that the scientist, to whom she and her friends had owed their lives, rescued her and Fang from Itex. Dr. Louis. He had been one of the greatest minds in the institute, having graduated college at the age of eighteen and then beginning his job the following year. He was bright, funny, and the only father she and her family had known. He taught them everything.

Nowadays he was, well, buried in the yard, not far from the house. Iggy liked to say he was like their guard-ghost, to which Max always was quick to give him a disapproving sideways glance. However, the prospect of having a ghost about did give them something to blame situations such like losing one's favorite pen on, or like being unable to find the other shoe to a pair. They missed him. Lou had died only a year ago from what they all assumed must have been pneumonia, which he must have contracted after the hypothermia he had originally caught saving Iggy from a frozen lake. They didn't like to talk about it – it was an unpleasant memory for the four of them.

After Max and Fang had been rescued initially, Dr. Louis had put his life on the line of fire (literally) trying to get the pair to somewhere safe, and somewhere nobody would ever find them again. If someone ever did, Louis would have gotten into some really deep shit. And also, as he had reluctantly informed Max alone, she would probably have already become the mother of her best friend, Fang's, children. This, also, was an idea which she didn't like to talk about, nor think about in any way. The thought of every being forced to do despicable things with scrawny, fourteen-year-old Fang was…repulsive, to say the least. Max felt especially indebted to the doctor for this very reason.

Iggy and Ella had come after four months of being hidden in the basement of Louis' house. Iggy had lost his sight due to a night-vision-enhancing surgery which had gone terribly wrong. Louis didn't go into details of how exactly it was that he came across his nearly-dead body, but the point was that he had, and now Iggy was alive due to the genius of the doctor. Also to the dental tools which he'd conveniently had in his car, but that, also, wasn't something the man had really gone into detail with. When Iggy had been stable, Louis had gone out searching for a place where he could raise these three teenagers into individuals who could pass for normal human beings. That place he found, with his own bizarro-crap ways, was incidentally this cabin, and that was how they got there. El had come two months after Iggy. She'd been an experiment discarded at birth that'd been picked up by another woman because her wings had been terribly deformed. She would never fly. The woman, another doctor that Louis knew at the Institute, had raised her on her own until they'd been found out. El had been thirteen at the time, had been smuggled out by the cover of nightfall, and long gone by the time the helicopters and men in white monkey-suits arrived. Lou said she'd probably have been killed by now.

All this playing over in her mind in vivid color made Max's brain hurt. She rolled over in her bed as she listened to the birds outside singing and she tried to calm down and relax. The bed was warm, the pillow was soft, and she was safe. She pulled the covers closer to her body, but was soon met with the obstacle of her bed-mate, his midnight black wings outspread right in her face. _Fang._

"God_, _woman," he groaned sleepily, pulling them back.

"Get your own blankie!"

"This _is_ my blankie."

"Leggo!"

"Urgh!" With an angry huff, she sat up in their old mattress and shoved him off the bed altogether, now too awake to even go back to sleep.

Fang remained on the floor, huddled in a ball with his eyes closed tight. "Shove off."

She picked up a brush, which had been sitting on top of the wardrobe, and ran it through her hair. Pausing by the mirror, she examined her tanned face, brown eyes, and bedraggled hair which she had cut herself with the kitchen scissors. Through her peripheral vision, she could see Fang bare-chested on his back on the floor, wings askew, rubbing his eyes with his hands.

"I'm making breakfast," she announced, pointedly making her way through the door. "Also," she added, turning back around halfway down the hall, which wasn't very long at all, "put a shirt on."

"…You like it."

"Asshole," she said as pleasantly as she could muster.

He flipped her off, but she couldn't see him as she waltzed off to the very tiny kitchen.

Already at the table and reading an old and probably stolen newspaper, El looked up at Max with a half-awake glance. The mumbled something like, _murnin'_, and continued drinking her cup of cheap coffee. Since she'd grown up in an actual household with a woman she had called "Mom", she wasn't as well accustomed to getting up with a skip in her step. A full grown bear bursting through her thin window probably wouldn't even wake her. El was not a morning person.

Iggy was at the stove flipping something else, but, however, it was a few pancakes. And thankfully, he wasn't flipping off anything, because Iggy was blind. It wasn't long before one of the flapjacks did end up on the floor with a satisfying _splat_, but this was mostly due to the fact that he was laughing hysterically. For no reason.

_Iggy was a special child._

"Speaking to your imaginary friends again?" Max asked him, sharing a look with El and slumping down in one of the old and outstandingly splintery chairs. "Ow! _Frickdammit_."

"No, actually," Iggy responded, grabbing a plate, stacking three pancakes on top of one another and drizzling them with syrup…flawlessly. "I was making you breakfast. Because I love you – my _dearest_ _darling_ Max."

He placed the plate in front of her and handed her a fork. She stabbed the pancakes harder than was necessary.

"You're full of shit."

"So I've been told."

Ella gave Max a smile. "You're in a good mood today."

Max scowled and turned her attention back to the blind kid cooking food on a hot stove. "So why were you giggling like pygmy pony?" she asked Iggy.

"I remembered something that Fang said the other day when you and El were out doing what women do," he wiggled his eyebrows and turned the stove off, a mound piled a good foot high above the plate on the counter.

"Grocery shopping_?_"

"Yes, women buy food, and men stay home and do manly things…like raid your underwear drawer and adorn the mantelpiece with your thongs."

The glare on Max's face probably could have killed a litter of newborn kittens.

Noticing the silence, Iggy grinned. "Well, it was nice knowing you," he said. He twirled the end of the spatula around his index finger and looked thoughtful for a moment. His mouth opened, and it was a brief second before he finally said something, with a grace of a smile across his lips. Max had sprang up from her chair, muttering something incoherent about, "_stupid morons…sexist pig…gluttonous goons…_", and snatched her undergarments from the hooks where they normally hung old socks on at Christmas next to the fire place. "Hey, and what were you and Fang doing last night? There was lots of grunting and, oh, what was it…the shaking of a mattress…"

Her eyes narrowed, and her fingers tightened venomously around her _Victoria's Secret_ underwear.

"Iggy, this would probably be a good time to shut up," Ella advised him, receiving another plate of pancakes from her blind _compadre_.

At this moment, Fang walked out of their bedroom, still not wearing a shirt, and gave Max a kiss on the cheek. "Good morning, darling," he said huskily.

"Would you believe Fang attacked me?" she asked, an exasperated tone in her angry voice.

"No," Iggy said, smiling like an idiot.

"That he put me in head-lock for absolutely no reason at all other than to prove he was stronger?"

"Nope."

"That he and I were playing with Cootie-Catchers?"

"Ooo," he _tsk_ed, pointing in her general direction, grinning yet again, "I like that option. Fang, what was your fortune?"

Fang shrugged. "Dunno," he said, "I picked green, and the answer was 'maybe'."

"Well if _that's _not vague..."

The both nodded.

Max took this opportunity to shoot Fang in the head with a thong, and put her now empty plate in the sink. "Well, gentlemen, I'm going to go bathe. Don't follow up. Nice speaking with you."

She started towards the door, knowing that all of her shower things were securely fastened on a pulley in a large tree, and her towel should be hanging up on a high branch, but Fang grabbed her about the waist and held her back.

"Buddy system?"

"Pig?"

He playfully stroked her face, absolutely loving how much taller he was than her. "But we had so much fun last night."

Max gave him an annoyed look and, quicker than he could even dodge, she kneed him hard in the gonads.

"Shirt. Put one on," she sweetly, satisfied with him bent over painfully and spewing an assortment of colorful swear words, she opened the creaky front door and started out towards the specific tree where she had kept all of her things in a water-tight bag. All of them had decided that it would be way easier than bringing all of their things every time they went to wash up, and since there was nobody looking for them anymore, they also figured it was safe. The only thing she ever thought she'd run into would be bears, but they were even a rare sight around the cabin. This could have been due to the fact that Iggy spent most of his time working on explosives which always made lots of noise, but thankfully not very much flame. However, there was that one time when he managed to catch himself on fire, but Max and Fang had agreed he deserved that one.

Nevertheless, when Max located the specific tree a good five-hundred yards away from the house, she quickly lowered the green pulley, which was hers, and slipped out of her clothes. The water in the lake was always crisp and cold, and didn't smell like fish, contrary to popular beliefs about lakes. Max was just glad she didn't always smell like wet dog. However, Iggy had once pointed out that if they _did_ in fact smell like sea food all the time, they probably didn't notice anymore. This in itself was a little sad, she'd admit.

There was a dip in the lake floor near the bank where Max usually sat and washed herself. She liked it because she could place the shampoo and conditioner on the side of the bank while she washed her hair, and she didn't have to get out and face the cold mountain air just yet. Even while the lake was cold, it was much colder once you stepped out of it.

Twenty minutes later, she was dry, clean, and smelled of pine.

"_All clear!" _someone yelled.

"Wha–?" was all she could muster before the other three came crashing down the hill in their swimsuits, careening into her and landing them all into the cold water. Still fully clothed, she yelled and kicked while Fang and Iggy took her by the wrists and ankles and threw her back into the water while she tried to escape. Ella just watched, laughing at her misery.

"You will all pay!" she yelled while treading water a little farther in.

Iggy couldn't see, but will still laughing with Fang as Ella sprang onto his back and knocked him, too, into the water again. Max tackled Fang and rubbed mud from the lake floor into his black hair.

Everyone was smiling. It was almost hard to believe that just a few years ago, three of them had been in the worst situations imaginable.

"Do you think it will last?" Max asked Fang later that night as they lay in their queen bed once again. A single candle had been lit in the old fashioned lamp on the table next to it. They'd shared ever since Lou died, because she used to get nightmares that only Fang could seem to comfort her from. The two of them had always had some sort of unexplainable connection which they both silently assumed could only come from the conditions of their childhood. They now slept in the room that Lou used to occupy, and while it was a little creepy, Fang always liked to tell Max to imagine that he was only gone on a long trip, and he would come back in a few years. It seemed to help the pain.

Now the two were sitting cross-legged on the small mattress just talking the way they always had. They were the leaders, it had been unofficially decided.

"I don't know," Fang said truthfully. "Chaucer said that all good things must come to an end."

"Since when do you read Chaucer?"

"I'm full of surprises."

Little did they know, Fang was right. Not everything is perfect forever, and they were about to all understand this very soon.

Call it foreshadowing.

Max was silent for a bit, and fingered the frayed edge of the thick wool blanket they shared. "It's only a matter of time before someone finds out about this place," she said. "What do you think will happen if that does happen? Do you think they're still looking for us?"

Fang shrugged and lay back into his pillow, with his knees propped up underneath his folded legs. "Probably. I mean, they were always saying that we were the most expensive and successful projects they ever had at the Institute."

"Or even in the Itex branches."

"Yeah."

They were both quiet for a while, and finally Max, too, lay back in their bed and put her head on her best friend's shoulder. "I'm so glad we got out," she said after a few moments. "I can't even imagine what our lives would have been like had we stayed."

"I'd probably be dead," Fang said quietly.

Max gave an involuntary shudder. She put her hand in his and squeezed it. "Let's not think about that."

"Okay. What should we think about?"

"We'll just focus on now. Keeping all of us safe."

"Okay."

She let go of his hand and crawled under the blankets, and he did the same. They moved to their set places on the bed, their backs facing one another and their wings slightly out, overlapping. "Goodnight, Fang."

"Goodnight, Maximum."

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><p><strong>I hope you like it so far! There's more to come.<strong>

**Please, please review!**

**~Steph**

**Please review!**


	2. Will Ride the Pilot Inspektor

**Hey, guys, I'd like to thank you all for your great reviews this past week! Big shout outs to Lacking Stealth, Bandgeekclarinet14, The Wolf Who Walks Alone, and The Other Fetus. Thank you all to those who either prayed or were thinking about me yesterday and today, even though I didn't find my hearing aid, but I'm optimistic, because I believe God can do great things, and even if He doesn't choose the outcome I want, I know He's doing it for my own good, no matter how much I don't want to believe it. **

**Since you guys were all great yesterday and today with encouraging reviews, I'm updating a day early. I was going to make you wait, but now I love you all too much...**

**And just so you all know, The Wolf Who Walks Alone is probably one of my absolute _favorite _fanfic writers, and has kind of been an inspiration to me, so you should freaking _read her stuff_. This girl deserves all the publicity she can get, because she will go places. **

**Anyway, these reviews have been really encouraging, and I've been much more excited to write more for you all. This has been amazing, mostly because I had the shittiest week in the history of shitty weeks. The nice reviews every couple of days have really helped me through with my major self-esteem issues and stuff, and helped me realize that I'm not the complete flaming idiot that I've somehow convinced myself I am. However, I did lose a hearing aid because I stuck it in my hoodie pocket, while thinking that it might fall out and not bothering to put it into my zippable coat pocket instead. That and not tearing back outside to look for it the second I realized that it was gone, because I was worried I'd be late for class. _I'm a moron_. A very tiny yet exceptionally large blonde American idiotic moron. **

**Fortunately, I think I might be able to get my warranty on it, and receive my one-time device replacement get-out-of-jail-free card. From now on, I'm going to carry around the stupid, cumbersome case that I'd resisted because it made me feel like a retard, and I am going to _put my hearing aids in there_ when I'm not using them. **

**Finally, here's your chapter :)**

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><p>"Hey, Maxio?" a voice called from the other side of the small house.<p>

The day was still new, and the three of the small group who had not grown up in a semi-normal situation had already been awake for a few hours occupying themselves with what they had seen fit. They all had their own ideas on how to sort of homeschool themselves now that Lou was gone, and Max had, in a way which could only be described as Maxism, dictated that they all were to read thirty pages of something logical at the beginning of the morning.

"You are _not _all turning into potato brains!" she had yelled one day about a month after the doctor had passed and she'd caught Iggy simply laying on the floor eating Nutella with a spoon right from the jar. "And you should be ashamed of yourself!" she'd added as he glopped another gooey wad of chocolate crack into his mouth. "You're becoming a stupid, fat, feathered lard-face!"

"Um,_ no_, you're mistaken! I'm _binge eating_! Leave me alone!" he'd shouted back. "_It comforts me!_"

By the end of the hour, Iggy had then without a doubt concluded that Max was right, and always right, mostly due to the fact that the spread was all over his favorite shirt, and he had a spoon stuck to his face with Gorilla Glue for the next week and a half.

And _that _was the day Max had assumed her dominance over their so-called "flock". And it was also the day they instituted a strictly-enforced homeschool law – the penalty always having something to with something both incriminating and painful. For everyone.

Fang normally buried himself in the works of some brilliant philosopher from Greece, or somewhere else which tended to yield those who were smart. Max's theory was that these people were the source of the random pearls of wisdom Fang chose to depart on the other three when they were overwhelmed with some form of emotional peril, or in the middle of an illogical rant. Personally, Max preferred classics, text books, and history novels which had been stashed all over the study by the Lou. It was incredible the amount of writing he had managed to stow away in this cabin, and it could easily be perceived that he had been preparing for a situation such as this. Louis had wanted to best for his "adopted" children, and wanted to see that they would turn into educated people if he ever had to leave them. And so, in a way, it was like Lou was still looking out for them, even if it was only to ensure the well-being of their minds.

Max was reclined on the ancient sofa in the small living room with a book written about one of her favorite historical topics, World War II. She didn't particularly enjoy reading about the terrors and horror of the battles of Nazi Germany, but they reminded her so much of her childhood that it was abnormally fascinating. She loved evaluating the accounts of the surviving Jews, and stories of how the Americans eventually came to rescue those who'd remained in the death camps until the very end from certain death. The United States Army, in her mind, was so much like the doctor who had done not only the same thing for her and her best friend, but also for the others she had come to know and love as her own family. She had absolutely idolized Lou.

At that moment, Fang looked up at her expectantly, knowing that she hadn't even heard what Iggy had called her. This was probably a good thing, too, since she strongly refused to tolerate anyone who dared to call her anything but _Max_. Except for when he called her Maximum on occasion, but she only let Fang do that because it reminded her of the doctor. Anyhow, he lightly grunted at her and nodded in Ig's general direction.

She looked up at him from her book with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, so what, you're giving up talking _altogether_ before nine in the morning?"

"_No_," he corrected her, shaking his head and leaning toward her slightly as if to further prove his point, and closing the copy of _Collections of John Locke_ that he hadn't quite finished reading yet. He left a finger in as a bookmarker. "Iggy-dear called you."

It came again, slightly louder and more annoying than the first time, "_MOM!"_

She leaned her head against the couch which had its back to the blind boy hopelessly searching the kitchen cubbards with his pale, spindly hands.

"_Child!_" she yelled back sarcastically, giving Fang, who was sitting under her calves, which were outstretched across the length of the sofa, a dimpled smile, to which he returned.

There was a crash as something fell out of one of the cabinets and fell with a plastic _crowr-raur-owroror_ on the hardwood floorboards. Iggy unnecessarily covered his head with his arms and complained, "Ella murdered the house elf!"

"_Excuse_ me?"

"Mother, there's _no food_."

"Stop referring to me with maternal titles! I am not a parental figure!"

Beside her, Fang licked a finger and turned the page of his book, mumbling nonsensically, "Dobby _was_ getting a tad overbearing."

Max punched him in the shoulder, but not hard enough to leave a bruise. "Don't encourage him."

Being no gentleman, he punched her right back so hard that it would. "Well, _I'm _sorry – Oliver Twist wants some _'ore_."

There was a slam of door a little ways down the hall, and the tell-tale, quite little murmurings of the final flock member. From this, Max was able to assume that it was now about nine-o-clock.

"_Hm-ara-wha...hm…_" El was rubbing her brown eyes and shuffling across the rough floor in black plaid pajama pants, which were really far too long for her skinny legs. "You guys are making so much noise…" she groaned, then threw a lethargic index finger in the general direction of the kitchen. "Iggy, make me coffee."

He crossed his arms stubbornly."No, you killed Dobby."

"_What?_"

She slumped down into the pale blue armchair across from Fang and Max's red couch. It squeaked a bit in protest as it sagged under her weight. She exhaled softly and put her face in her hands, her black nail polish chipped and in need of some maintenance. "_Frrrm_, I slept on my left wing weir' and now ist all knotted up'."

Max hummed in sympathy and put her legs down to pat the seat next to her. "Fang, move, I'm gonna rub El's back for her," she commanded. "C'mere, babe."

Giving an annoyed look, Fang wordlessly got up from his spot on the couch and switched places with the girl, who clumsily scooted across the distance between the two places on her butt to lay down next to Max. The eldest girl lifted her shirt gently revealing the twisted forms of two scrawny, feathery frames. The right one was a bit bigger than the left, but the second of the two was less completely covered in fluffy, brown plumage. The sparsely feathered wing was mostly the color of Ella's naturally tanned skin, but a little darker where a birth mark spanned a large area of the joint.

Ella's arm twisted around so she could directly gesture to Max the part of the right which was hurting her near the part where the wing met the shoulder. "Riiight here…"

Max began to kneed and loosen the muscle which had cramped over the night, and the four fell into a slightly uncomfortable silence, because it wasn't very often that El bared the deformed wings attached to her back to the others. Though she'd never outright admitted it, it had become obvious over the years that she was bitterly ashamed of them.

One time, she had told them about when a kid at her school would make fun of her for being a hunchback, even though she knew very well that she wasn't. They used to throw rocks at her and call her names. Thus, from a very early age, El had known that she was different – and in a bad way. This probably gave birth to the close friendship she had developed with Iggy, who was also limited in a very serious way.

"Have I ever told you that I love the color of your wings?" Max cooed, breaking the stillness with her clear voice.

El said nothing, but had closed her eyes and hummed every once in a while in approval as her muscles unwound.

"Well, not that this isn't fun," Iggy said impatiently, "But I'm about as hungry as a baby beluga whale…so…if someone could please go get food..."

"Belugas eat krill," Fang said shortly and received an approving smirk from his leader.

"And catch food using only their mouth," Max joined in.

Ella had sat up and drawn her over-large shirt back down. "And I think they eat through a toothbrush, too. Here, I'll go get you one…"

"…And you can find something nice in the lake," Max added.

Fang jumped up from the sofa and shoved the book he had been reading onto the bookshelf. "I'll find your swim trunks."

The blind kid stayed cemented in place between the island and the cubbards with his arms crossed over his chest. "I passionately hate you all."

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><p>"Do you think Ella would eat kidney beans?" Max was asking Fang as they walked both side-by-side and hand-in-hand through Aisle 12 of a King Soopers grocery store. When just the two of them were out in the real world, they both dressed in dark clothes and pretended to be a married couple, in an effort to dissuade suspicious shoppers. Especially if the Erasers were around looking for flock, the two of them wanted to look very different. They were certainly tall enough, had the build of adult humans, and Fang even used temporary one-day blonde hair dye in order to give him kind of a Mexican hipster <em>Backstreet Boy<em> look. This, Max always had to convince him, did not look stupid, but in reality, it he looked really cute. Max's hair had been colored a much lighter shade of brown today and she was wearing a dark green sweatshirt with the hood up.

Fang adjusted his fake, modern black glasses and frowned at her as he dumped several cans of tomato sauce into the pale gray cart. Around his midsection, he sported a baby Snuggly with a very realistic-looking newborn doll. It had little socks over the hands and a hat covering its almost-real, olive-toned face. Fang had named it something very normal, _Will_, because he had come up with the idea _and_ built the thing. But Iggy, for whatever reason, had continually insisted on calling it _Pilot Inspektor_.

However, Max had to admit she and Fang really looked like a perfect little family…and she kind of liked it. Though, she never would have admitted it out loud. She could only imagine the embarrassment.

"I don't think _anyone_ eats kidney beans," he remarked. "Here, could you hand me eight cans of Campbell's soup, babe?"

She scowled at him, but made her way over nonetheless and picked up what he had commanded. "Would you be in the mood for stroganoff tonight? I could get our _cook_ to make it for us."

"That would be _lovely_, dear," he smiled. When they were out, she insisted he smiled all the time. This, also, would turn undercover whitecoats off because Fang _never_ grinned.

And she liked it when he smiled.

The cart at this point was positively filled with all sorts of foods, right up to the rim. They had to be careful to always get things which didn't have to be refrigerated, however. Milk and other items like iced cream were very obviously out of the question, except for in the winter when they could be placed out in the snow. Since it was summer, none of them had had a good glass of milk with cookies…in months. This bugged Max the most.

"Then we'll have to get, like, twenty bags of noodles to go with them. Plus, I mean, we need all the carbs we can get," she pointed out, reaching out between her and her companion to lovingly stroke the baby.

"So…true…honey, you're such a genius," he cooed, and added seriously, "I can't tell you how much it turns me on."

"Aw, baby, you're so full of shit, I love you."

It was convincing, and the people around them didn't notice anything. However, the look in Fang's eyes said all that he didn't say out loud, and he was visibly struggling to keep up his serious façade. He grinned again. "C'mere and give me a kiss, Maxine."

"Um, not if you want to have any more children, Nicholas," Max answered sweetly.

To this, he gave one hushed, but explosive laugh and reached across dear William to gather about thirty high-calorie protein bars as they walked down the next aisle, the cart squeaking over the dirty linoleum floors.

"Oh, hey, on a more serious note, how many more boxes of Raisin Bran do you think we'll need for the next month or so? And Cheerios…I mean, _Will_ could probably go through about one box a day."

"Nick, he's three weeks old. Let's get twelve of the Bran and…six O's?" she went at the display like a bear, then noticing that they may be in need of another pushcart "Do you want to leave with all of this and go back home, or risk the exposure and get another cart?"

Fang checked his wristwatch and frowned. "Well, if we've been out for an hour and a half already, we should probably head back so the _kids_ don't get apprehensive."

"All nine of them."

"Yes, all glorious nine."

"And the triplets on the way."

"We've decided on Roy, Charles, and Shaniqua for sure, am I right?"

They strolled lazily down to the check-out, which didn't have a line, thanks to their uncommonly good luck. A small Asian girl with a light blue apron looked up at them from behind her very thick glasses. She asked in a politely high voice, "All set to go?"

Fang smiled politely in very good character. "Yeah, I think so! The baby's starting to get a little fussy, so this'll be it for now."

They all looked at Will, who did absolutely nothing.

Max cleared her throat in order to distract the very apprehensive-looking cashier and started loading jugs of orange juice onto the moving rubber belt. The girl had very certainly noticed the large amount of food they were checking out and conversationally asked Fang, "Is…is this your first?"

Stifling a grin, Fang swung an arm around his fake wife, gave her a squeeze and quick kiss on the lips. Max's eyes got very big. "Oh, no, we've got seven at home with a sitter. Maxine and I here just can't stay off each other, can we, love?"

Max gave him a tight-lipped false smirk, clearly exceedingly annoyed. "Honey, kindly shut your face," she said very politely, giving the girl a nice smile and purposely not looking at her partner.

Pulling the counterfeit dollar bills and food stamps which Ella had so flawlessly made, Fang informed the girl knowingly behind his hand, "Sorry, she's a little pissy from pregnancy hormones. Got another one on the way already."

Max elbowed him very hard in the ribs.

The girl seemed obviously very confused, and to admit, a little flustered, so it was no surprise that she did not check the fake money, bagged the merchandise, and just let the two leave with their extremely hefty amount of food.

After high-fiving and finding the large blue duffel bag they'd hidden behind the store, Max told Fang as she unbuckled the Snuggly from behind, "Okay, next time _I'm _carrying the baby, and _you _are not allowed to talk to _anyone_!"

"Oh, go die, it was a believable story!" he gestured largely to his entire body after taking off the glasses, "I mean, who _wouldn't_ want this? You, my dear, are a very lucky hypothetical wife."

"_You do not kiss me!_ We've been over this several times! What is your freaking–"

"I'm sorry if I was staying in character! _She looked skeptical_!"

"What part of her looked skeptical? _You kissed me! _Now _forgive me_ if I reserve the right to not talk to you for the next week, you giant _oaf_!"

"Oh, stand back, she's resorting to British, Tolkien-like insults."

Fang just had a silly look on his face like he'd just pulled the prank of the month _and_ completed an Iron Man race in record time. _Wife._ Max took the baby and roughly shoved him into the duffle, then all fifty pounds of it at Fang.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, back in the mountains, it was about noon, and Iggy was narrating everything he did right as he did it. Ella was curled up on the couch reading her favorite Jane Austen book, <em>Pride and Prejudice<em> for about the fifth time in a row. She'd been doing her best for the last three hours to ignore him, but as he started again and walked past her with a new slur of commentary, she began to reach her breaking point.

"The handsome hero walks down the hall. The hero puts his socks on. What color are they? He knows not. The hero maaaakes his waaaay into the kitchen and prepaaaares for himself a cheese sandwhich! The knife is cold and light in his strong, capable hands. What stealth! Such dexterity! Inpecible–"

"IGGY I SWEAR TO YOU THAT IF YOU DO NOT STOP DESCRIBING EVERYTHING YOU DO THIS INSTANT I WILL MURDER YOUR STUPID, BLIND WHITE ASS AND DESPOSE OF YOUR DEAD BODY IN THE LAKE. AND I WILL _NOT FEEL BAD_ ABOUT IT!"

That was _it_.

The book dropped to the floor with a satisfying and very loud _whap!_ and Ella leapt to her feet, storming the short distance between the blue armchair and her bedroom and she shut the door as hard as she could.

There was a pause.

"…The hero begins to speak to himself in hushed tones…"

At that exact same moment, the front door opened after a series of knocks, clearly indicating that it was Max and Fang, and not the blood-thirsty Erasers they were so paranoid about.

"Hey!" Max breathed tiredly, because she'd ended up carrying the bag halfway because Fang's bad back almost gave out. "We bear goods."

Iggy, who'd been sulking ever the slightest, perked up a bit, looking now skeptically at his measly little sandwich. "Any chance you would have bought, like, some provolone or mozzarella? Oh! Or pepper jack…it's the best."

Max made a face, because it was a known fact that she despised cheese with everything that was within her. "Ew, but yeah…but ew."

There was a _whump_ as the seven pound baby was carelessly flung onto the table by its unsympathetic creator in an effort to reach the other light-weight food articles from the now-heavy duffel.

At the noise, Ella quickly burst out of her room, completely fueled by the drive of hunger. "Bread? You have bread? I asked for bread, do you have bread?"

Someone threw one of the fresh-baked loaves at her, and she nimbly caught it.

"Fang, is that a black eye?" She noticed Fang's now rather dark optical orb and gave a pointed look at the kid she had to share the house with all day, tearing into the bread with her bare hands.

"Hey, Max? Iggy's pissing me off. Punish him, too."

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><p><strong>I have nothing else to ask you except to review! The more reviews I get, the more motivated I get, and the less I get depressed (depression, buh), which means the more lengthy the chapters :) I can't tell you how much I love you readers. You're the reason I write!<strong>

**~Steph**


	3. Max Is A Cute Rabid Bear Individual

**Hey everyone! It's Steph again. And guess what? It's my seventeenth birthday today :) It sucks that I have to work on my birthday (I'm currently at my nanny job and the little boy, Brody, is taking a nap at the moment), but I've decided to be positive about it and am having a small cupcake party for just the two-year-old and I. And I'll be taking lots of pictures, simply because it'll be freaking adorable. **

**So, now I'm the same age as the characters I'm writing about. I know some of you were confused about the age of everyone, so here's the dealio:**

**Max - 17**

**Fang - 17**

**Iggy - 17**

**Ella - 16**

**Ari - 3 (but was given growth hormones and now looks and acts like he's eighteen)**

**Get it? Got it? Gooood. **

**Anyway, I went to this cool concert on Sunday, and my new favorite song this week is "Invisible" by Disciple. They're kind of on the edge of hard rock and metal, so maybe look it up if you have Spotify or something. **

**Also, I found my hearing aid in my mom's boot. I have no idea how it got there, seeing as I lost it in the truck, and ended up in my mom's car in her shoe, but...I don't care. I have my hearing aid back, and that's all that matters. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts :) It made a huge difference, and I had such great confidence it would come back. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. I do own Dr. Louis and the striped socks which are on my feet right now. Jealousy, you know it. **

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><p>There was a loud crack, and the man Marius had been fighting finally went down with a bloody nose, and a nearly broken arm. Of course, this was no ordinary man, he knew, it was a fully grown and perfectly capable of killing anything even four times its size. Erasers were not creatures to be reckoned with, and the several experiments in a different wing of the desert building knew this all too well. This was Ari's favorite part of being a commander.<p>

He got to beat everyone else up just for fun.

His current opponent had apparently given up, laying in a dismal heap on the discolored blue wrestling mat. Fluorescent lighting illuminated the blood-stained windowless dojo, and the unfinished walls were still showing the red paw prints of his fellow comrades in their least greatest moments. It was he, the alpha, who was calling the shots today. Those under him stood aside from him, watching as Ari circled the dog he was fighting. The other un-morphed young Erasers sat in line next to the wall, waiting their turn. They were part of a new order. Itex was creating a new type of Eraser, a sort of super-wolf. Technically, these were called the E9 Units, and the individual lupine-hybrids which made up this group of brutal militia were the fast-selling product.

Ari's sparring partner, a pup named Zul, had a long way to go.

"_Get up and fight!_" he roared at the now half-morphed boy, he himself completely phased into the giant, terrifying killing machine he was. Anger surged through Ari's veins, and a large blood vessel in his head bulged from his temple.

The dog, Zul, took a few deep breaths, wiping a bit of sweat from his hairy face. He looked at Ari with malice in his eyes, then shakily readied his lethal fists for one last go, the almost broken one awkward and limp now. Zul shook his head violently once, trying to focus his blurry eyes, a bit of blood from his red-stained nose flying and hitting some of the others waiting in line. He growled viciously. Ari did the same, but let the pup hit him, just this time to give him some small satisfaction. The pain of the blow made Marius's yellow eyes dilate like that of a wild animal, and the adrenaline began to really kick in at an unsafe rate. In the next moment, the Eraser took a swing at him, but Ari caught it with his clawed hands, twisting it in the same way he did before when he'd previously tried to break Zul's other one. However, this time, Zul ducked quickly under his commander and tried to loosen his grip. He remembered Marius showing them this technique a few minutes ago, but was having a little too much trouble executing it. _Moron_. Who the hell had been in charge of creating him?

The leader moved fast, doing an effortless front flip to untwist is own appendage, and also distract the kid. In record time, Ari had freed himself, and punched the boy so hard that he was surprised it didn't shatter under the sheer force of his weight and heavy muscle. Next, he did a double side-step kick to Zul's stomach and slammed his hard elbow into the pup's rib cage.

The satisfaction was dizzying.

"Never, _ever_ let me get hold of you," Ari snarled at the Eraser as he watched him land in an inflexible on the mat. "How many times do I need to show you that? We've been at this for _twenty minutes!_ What are you, an _idiot?_"

Furiously, and so that he wouldn't lose all control when he finally lost his temper, Ari turned away toward the so-called locker rooms to splashed some cold water on his face. "Stupid waste of money," he muttered to himself, trying to calm his heart rate down. If he let it get too high, he'd lose all control of his thinking, and the outcome could be detrimental.

In the distance with his hyper-advanced hearing, he could register one of the other Eraser commanders taking his place, yelling at all the others. Ari dried his face with a towel and looked at his startling reflection in the mirror.

Yellow eyes stared back at him, flat and lifeless. They were a striking contrast to his unusual colored hair. In his morphed, 30% lupine form, silver, black, and brown hair would grow to cover nearly all of his abnormal, upright body. When he was back in his normal, human body, he looked a much different. The whitecoats always reminded him about how much he looked like his father, except for the dark coloring and strange eyes, of course, which he'd gotten from the extra bit of DNA.

It was amazing, but at the same time, he almost hated it.

You see, like all of the other experiments, whether or not they were really treated well in the facility, they only ever dreamed of one thing – and that was freedom. Here in this place where he never left, Ari was trapped, a prisoner in a body he had never really liked. He was so large and awkward. The advantages of having the powers he possessed had their downfalls: poor sense of taste, color-blindness, and legs that, even in his human form, forced him to hunch over like he'd always had a bad case of scoliosis. Ari had also undergone a painful surgery the year before which somehow re-wrote part of his DNA in order to squeeze in 2% of avian qualities. The following months after the procedure were all filled with searing, white-hot agony. Him being forced to learn to use the wings on his back in a way he didn't feel he understood, and his brain had started making his body spasm randomly without warning. It was so difficult.

A timer beeped on Ari's wrist and he tore his eyes away from the mirror and focused on getting a canister of pills out of his army pants pocket. These were pain medications to help him stand up straighter and ease the pain of his rapid growing. It was always the growing.

Despite the fact he was over six feet tall and could win just about any weight contest anyone would wish to put him in, Ari was only a little over three years old. He looked and acted like he was eighteen, however. But today, he decided to shake off any depressive thoughts he might have. He physically stood up a little straighter and checked his watch. _He_ was the greatest achievement Itex had ever created. _He_ had total control over all of the Erasers. They moved when _he _said so. And he, Marius Odil, would one day overthrow all of these bastards, all by himself.

* * *

><p>"<em>What are you doing in there?<em> Waxing your _mustache?_" Max angrily banged on the door belonging to Iggy's room. He'd been in there all day and there'd been no sign of him coming out any time soon. It was a relatively cold day at the cabin, what with it being raining and all, and so it was not surprising that everyone was staying inside instead of, like, exploring and other such activities. The sky was gloomy, casting a similar shadow on the members of the household, as they were all feeling chilly and damp due to the numerous leaks in the ceiling. El was used to fixing things, because she was one who enjoyed such activities, and she had placed several pots and pans under each drip to keep the water from warping the ancient floorboards.

Currently, El was situated on the red chair with a book on astronomy with a sort of nerdy air about her she looked very much absorbed by the information she was reading. Fang was doing about the same thing, but he was engulfed with C.S. Lewis' _Screwtape Letters_. However, Fang never, ever looked nerdy – mostly just badass. In fact, he looked badass at that moment, him in his black plaid pajamas pants and grey oversized hoodie. Badass. Simply, badass.

"Seriously," Max continued still banging on the door like she had been doing all morning, "I'm! – I mean Fang's really worried about you!"

Fang raised dark eyebrow, catching her bluff, and turned the next page of his book. Though Fang had never said anything about it, he had always been a little convinced that Max was slightly mental. This could have to do with them being raised in the situations they had been, or maybe just part of her genetic disposition. Nonetheless, he did not understand how she could just carry on as she did for such long amounts of time. Guessing what Fang was thinking, Ella frowned.

"Max will give you a wupp'un if you ever give voice to that hunch of yours," she said non-chalantly.

He looked up at her with an amused look in his dark eyes. "That is _precisely_ why I'm keeping it to myself, El."

"Oh, and I've been so blind to this," she rolled her eyes as Max's pounding continued in an almost comical manner.

Sadly, it seemed that Max had completely forgotten that: a.) Iggy was a really, really deep sleeper; and b.) he tended to get so focused on things that he wouldn't really think about anything else once he got going. His favorite activity included the building and detonating of several varieties of small explosives…namely bombs and fireworks. If anyone else was blind and had to completely fix their attentions on different senses to complete such intricate practices, they would understand how he could have completely zoned out.

Plus, well, Max could get a little overbearing. You see, she had about two modes. Calm and docile, and then, yelling. These, one must understand, were her only settings, and she tended to use them often. The Max in a sort of pissed-off-and-yelling state was not rare and the four of them had almost become deaf to it.

Eventually after jiggling the handle and yelling some more at Iggy, she collapsed beside the door and sort of _harrumphed_. Max did not like to be defeated.

Fang sensed her dissatisfaction and got up from the blue chair with the book in hand, placing himself next to her on the floor by the wall. It was all in vain, really, for she was quite angry, and his efforts did nothing to aid her sour disposition.

"Okay, what?" Fang asked her tonelessly, tentatively.

She pointed her head sideways to the door.

Fang did a half-smirk as only a Fang could, and said to her in a tone only he could pull off without being castrated, "Think, if a rabid bear was at your door and wanted you to open up, what d'you think you'd do?"

She looked at him blankly. "You just compared me to a rabid animal," she deadpanned.

Putting the book on his lap, Fang crossed his ropey, muscular arms and looked back at her, unafraid and determined to salvage this situation as much as he could. "In my defence, I think you'd make kind of a cute bear."

The half smile was back.

Max scowled. "You're just trying to soften the blow now," she complained. "I just want to know what he's doing in there! He could have killed himself and we just don't know and then the house will begin to smell and we still won't be able to get in and…"

"He'll be fine."

"…And _then,_" she held up a finger, "the wild animals of the forest will come from all over the place in search of skinny-ass-bird-kid meat and…"

"He'll be fine."

"But…"

"He'll b –"

_BOOM._

This was the point when all hell broke loose, and also the point at which the door was no longer locked. In fact, the door had fallen out of the frame, smashing across the hallway to knock down Ella's door as well. There was plaster everywhere. Had Max and Fang been sitting in front of the door, they probably would have been gravely injured, if not killed. A series of small, colorful blasts followed the initial big one in shades of blue, green, red, and white, followed with some whooping and cheering from behind where the door used to be.

Consequently, there was a moment of shock, where the both of the two just sat wide-eyed, and then Fang and Max were quickly on their feet – him making sure she was alright, and she in the beginnings of one of her famous rants.

Ella, still on the red sofa, was in the same position as before, as if completely unconcerned, but her eyes were no longer on her textbook, but on the door which had just burst open. Her light brown eyes took into account that she no longer had a door, but she chose not to blow up, (hur hur), about it.

On the other hand…

"That _moron!_" Max shrieked, flailing her arms, smacking Fang's face in the process. He flinched, slightly bewildered. She turned on the door, making a note to stomp out the small flame which was licking at the wood. "He just blew the house up! I'm gonna…!"

"Just his room," Fang pointed out, to her annoyance.

Iggy was sitting in his office chair, still alive, surprisingly, and very much singed. Though he was seated in his place still, he was now not in the right orientation, because his back was on the floor, and his feet in the air. His dull blue eyes were staring forward as if in a state of shock.

"Woah," was the single word he uttered.

Iggy's room was completely covered in soot, and it was probably going to take a good week to get everything cleaned off. The curtains were on fire, though, which Fang was sure to casually smother with the jacket he had been wearing all morning. Iggy's blankets on the bed now had some black spots and holes burnt into it, which was something El could probably mend with her handy sewing kit. Unfortunately, the window's glass was done for, and the door was gone, meaning that cold air would circulate through the house from now until forever.

"Did it…did it, you know, _go? _All of it?" Iggy asked excitedly. "It went, right? It did, didn't it!"

Max crossed the room and kicked him in the side very hard. "Okay, you've done it this time. No more chances!"

Iggy's eyes widened and he turned on his side awkwardly in protest. "Chances? I had chances? No! Please! Give me more! Please, Max!"

"Forget it! You're a yarn-flinging short-bus freak!"

"_I do not ride the short bus!_" He'd gotten up from the tipped chair and stood on his feet. He exhaled and sniffed the air, and it looked for a moment like his senses had heightened. He looked alive. "It smells like…" he drawled, "…exhilaration."

Max crossed her arms, "Yeah, well, I hope cleaning and putting the doors back where they were is just as exhilarating as demolishing your bedroom. Have fun!"

But Iggy objected, his index finger pointing in Max's general direction and making a face upon which was written the word "unfair".

"I'm _blind!_" he called after her as she clapped the dust off of her hands and waltzed through the doorframe.

Once in the hallway, she turned around and retorted, "Yeah? Well, you built a bomb, blind boy with nothing but your touch-and-feel senses, so I think you can manage to repair a room. It's infinitely less complicated."

He blew air in his cheeks and let it out. He got it. He understood.

Max stormed down the hall into her and Fang's bedroom, and Fang followed her, for reasons everyone knew not. The spindly hands which had built the explosive in the first place felt the frame which had been once filled with a panel of wood, and he bonked his cranium on the wall.

Iggy smiled.

From the other room, Ella finally burst out laughing. Iggy heard with his sensitive ears and called to her, now that Max was out of earshot, "It was _awesome_, am I right?"

* * *

><p>"Are you ready for this?" a voice behind him asked.<p>

His sensitive ears perked and he looked behind him, seeing that it was one of the pack he had been training all month. Today was their final test before they could be recruited into the elite forces at Itex. If they could pull this off today, they were in. Ari would analyze each and every one of them as they executed their jobs, and that was it. If they failed, they would be expired electronically thought the chips in their arms. These chips had the power to completely control them from great distances, just in case.

From the top tree branch, Ari could see pretty much everything in this section of the Colorado mountains all the way to the horizon. Had he not be a dark and twisted character, he might have even said that it was a beautiful sight. And then there was the house. Ari had found it, all by himself. It'd been three years since the experiments were kidnapped from their rightful positions in the Institute by that ridicules scientist, Dr. Louis. About half an hour ago, there had been some sort of colorful explosion from one of the windows, which confirmed his suspicions that there were, indeed, people, or experiments, living in there.

It was a nice hiding spot, he had to admit. Clever, he would have said.

Slipping his binoculars around his neck and taking one last look, he picked up his radio and spoke the words that would change everything for everyone for a very long time.

"It's them. At midnight, it's a go."

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><p><strong>Please, please review! The more reviews, the quicker I update! Go go go! <strong>

**Question of the Week: What's your favorite song and band, and tell me why. **

**Cheers,**

**~Steph**


	4. Law of Physics: Gingers Always Win

(Phase 1)** NOBODY READS THESE. Seriously, who reads these? I just ramble and nobody even cares. You can skip this. You probably should actually skip this and just read the story. Disregard me.**

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><p>(Phase 2) <strong>Hey, everyone! I want to personally thank those of you who reviewed, primarily because you're, um, <em>awesome<em>? Also, gigantic shout out, again, to The Wolf Who Walks Alone. She is the best. You should really look her up, because she's pretty fantastical, and has this _really cool_ story called "Freak Fest", which is pretty much the bomb dot com . **

**So, yeah, minuscule life update: Please be nice to hostesses when you go out to eat. Because, really, they try really, really hard. My best friend couldn't work with me this weekend at the Mexican Restaurant we work at (I'm white, she's Asian, everyone else is Mexican, and we clearly don't belong there), and tonight was super crazy. And all the rich people that live in the rich neighborhood that I am not native to are really, _really_ rude to me! Seriously, if a hostess seats you somewhere, please sit there. She has reasons why you're there, and they're probably reasons that keep the waiters and waitresses happy and not pissed at her. **

**And I got a panic attack in Chemistry (a literal, 4S related panic attack), and saw one of my ex-friends after school that is on my short list of "People Who I In Actuality Hate".**

**I had such a shitty day. **

**Thankfully writing makes me happy, and you all are on the receiving end. :)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) double chins**

**So please read, enjoy, and review. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, but I do own my original characters, and my extraordinarily fat daschound****. (If you're on Facebook, join "The Cause To Love Sabine".)**

(Phase 3)** Now read these things.**

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><p>"Hey, Fang, I think I got it!" Iggy had called down the hall to where he and Max had been playing <em>Uno<em> for the last hour and a half.

The door which the blind boy had knocked out of its hinges was now haphazardly back in place in the frame, but still didn't look terribly steady. Ella had figured out how to fix her own door ages ago because, in her own words, she was "…absolutely _not_ letting that moron touch _anything_ in my room. I don't care who's fault it was!"

Of course, as soon as Iggy said this, the door ripped the hinges completely out of the wood paneling and fell back into the hallway, succeeding in splintering the wood floor one last time. Standing there for a full minute blindly with a perplexed look on his face, Iggy tapped his lips and finally said, pointing his index finger to the door, "You know? What we might need is a hammer and some…glue."

Funny, Ella may have had a point after all.

She looked up from her book on the blue chair and said sarcastically, "Yeah…or maybe a brain?"

"Well, you know, brains aren't exactly the _tactile_ material I was looking for," he responded in a surprisingly thoughtful manner, reaching down to pick up the door again. "Ella, how exactly did you figure out yours?"

Huffing, El put her book on the coffee table and got up to help him, mumbling to herself.

In the kitchen, Fang was winning the third _Uno_ round in a row. He and Max both had very concentrated, solemn expressions on their faces, and this time, Max was convinced she would win.

"Just face it," he partner said smugly, "Boys are just…smarter."

Max frowned and placed a nine back down on the table. "That's not true," she said. "I'm letting you win."

"Oh, I'm sure."

"No! For real, I mean, if I won the first six games in a row and suddenly you seem to be doing better, what does that tell us about you?"

"That tells us nothing," Fang put down a six, "except that you're losing your touch."

"I am not!" she exclaimed. She looked down at her cards. _"Uno! _I win! See? See that?"

It was at that point, dear readers, that Fang became beside himself with frustration. They were _both_ engineered to be brilliant. In fact, they were completely equal in every aspect: strength, agility, wit, and badassness. (Badassness being the most important of course.)

Scowling, he angrily threw down his handful of colorfully-numbered cards. "_Dammit_."

There was a satisfying click from the hallway that indicated that Ell had managed to fix Iggy's door. Irony gave a hearty laugh, but Iggy's face brightened and he suggested gleefully, "Okay, cool, let's play Monopoly!"

They rarely ever played this game, the reason being that Iggy won every single time the four of them sat down to have at it. However, today Fang was feeling like he needed some extra man points and responded in a macho voice, "Yeah, Max, let's play Monopoly."

She had just finished putting all the cards back in the box and gave him a very puzzled look. "Are you crazy? You'll lose this too, you know."

"Such little faith," he tsked, shaking his head.

Ella had walked into the living room to join them all and said, "Oh, come on, Max, it'll be interesting. I mean, just look at Fang – he looks so cute when he's feeling ambitious."

Fang's eyes narrowed at her. "Okay, let's play."

Iggy rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles, "Oh, yes. Let's."

By the end of two hours it was apparent that gingers really did have powers and that all other people without red hair are completely incompetent. Iggy's winning streak was not broken, and probably never will. Ever.

"Well, I'm tired," he had concluded. "All this mental math and critical thinking makes me sleepy."

"_Yoooo tambien,"_ Ella yawned in Spanish, which brings us all back to the fact that Ella was raised by a woman of Mexican descent. "Ohhh but I have a book I wanted to finish…dang."

The two stumbled out of their chairs at the kitchen table, which left Fang and Max standing in the middle of the mess they all had made. There were twelve empty soda cans, jelly beans everywhere, and a bunch of unfinished Nutella sandwiches all over the table, island, and floor. Both of the doors down the hall closed, and the two of them were completely alone.

"You know, one would think we could be less animalistic," Max remarked, starting on collecting the cans of Dr. Pepper and Barq's Root Beer.

"But what surprises me," Fang said, "is that caffeine doesn't affect any of us...at all."

Max frowned, throwing the bread crusts in the garbage. "Maybe it's a bird thing."

"Yeah, maybe."

When the kitchen was finally clean to the point that Ella would not have a psychotic breakdown (she had OCD), the two retreated back to their shared bedroom. They were unhappy to find a very large water stain in the middle of their bed from a leak in the ceiling. It was kind of like a very large ugly animal had come in and just pissed smack in the middle of the comforter.

They both pulled different faces.

"Okay, _not_ cool," Fang said disapprovingly as water continued to drip from the archaic, haphazard roof.

Max groaned. "This goddamn_ house!_ Where the...where the blank are we going to sleep?"

Picking up part of the soaked blanket which they normally slept on, and then dropping it again, Fang frowned. "The couch, maybe?" he suggested, scratching his neck.

She looked up at him. He was a good bit taller than she was, and her head came up to about his shoulder. "But we can't both fit. We're too awkward and…huge."

He smirked. "Emphasis on _awkward_," he joked and looked her in the eyes. "We can make it work," he smiled, just for her. "We can squeeze."

Max's stomach gave a little flutter, but she wasn't about to let some goopy emotion control her face or actions. Calm, cool. "Okay, I guess," she said, "Let's find another blanket, though, it's freezing and we don't want to become, like, hypothermic."

"Deal," he agreed, and finally found a green fleece one in the hall closet after changing into his pajama pants.

Max did the same. When he came back, she was already half asleep, her body spread all across the majority of the couch. Gently, Fang picked her head up and put a pillow under it. She caught his eye and gave him a faint smile. He then wedged himself between her and the sofa, letting his arm fall over her under the blanket.

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><p>At about a quarter to midnight, the only person in the house who was still awake was El. It had always been a habit of hers to stay up super late reading a book, and she couldn't sleep otherwise. It'd been a few hours since she'd retired to her room, and because caffeine is a dehydrant, she was now pretty thirsty. So, she subsequently made her way to the kitchen to where the cooler was rested next to the island. As she sipped the cool liquid from a plastic cup, she looked out the window into the dark forest which had always frightened her way more than it had the others. In fact, they weren't afraid of the dark at all.<p>

But they had grown up in a lab, so she was willing to bet that they weren't afraid of anything at all except needles and Erasers.

She had never seen an Eraser before, but as she looked at her reflection in the window, she could see what could have been teeth and scary yellow eyes. She wasn't sure if she was imagining them, because the glass was kind of fogged up, so she put her hand up to the window. The eyes blinked, and so did hers. And she was suddenly taken aback at how vivid her mind could come up with such images. It was when the eyes looked directly at her and the face began to smile that she realized the picture was not her imagination at all.

"_Little pig, little pig_," she heard in a slightly muffled, chillingly velvet voice. She started backing away from the window, "_Let me come in_."

The teeth were now completely visible, bared and out of a horror movie, and a stiff, paw-like hand came up to press against the thin glass of the window, right next to where hers was resting.

The blood drained from Ella's face, and she felt a chill overcome her body in a way that she had never felt before. This was way worse than when Iggy had put that gorilla mask on and waited under her covers to scare her. _Infinitely_ worse. There was terrible laughter, the claws protruded from the paw faster than she could think, and before she knew what was happening, the monster had shattered the window – quick and effortlessly, like it was ripping right through paper. The Eraser's ugly, morphed head shoved through the broken glass, roaring, finally revealing his massive size.

Ella let out a blood-curdling scream.

Quick like a cat, the terrifying creature smashing through the window and into the kitchen after her. The candle that she had lit on the island was blown out, leaving the entirety of the kitchen in a dim, blue light.

This was _so _likeStephen King.

The monster wasted no time in lunging at her much smaller frame, growling and scratching up the wood floor with its razor sharp claws. It was clad in what looked like a very military-like uniform with a dangerous array of weapons hanging off of it.

Suddenly, a black figure jumped right over her where she had become stuck between the hissing monster and the wall he had barricaded her._ Fang_.

"Move!" he shouted at her, launching himself at the creature.

Max made a move in the opposite direction down the hallway, yelling, "_IGGY WAKE UP! WAKE UP!_"

Fang punched the Eraser several time in the nose, and in return received a nasty swipe to the side with those razor sharp claws. It was like stabbing a block of foam. But snarling, Fang roundhouse-kicked it in the chest so hard that it stumbled back a bit. The situation escalated, the plot thickened, and several more reinforcements, maybe six or eight, began to pour through all the different windows.

"_Don't touch her!_" Fang roared, livid, literally seeing red, as one made a move towards Ella. It jumped on top of Fang while he never stopped fighting.

Iggy emerged from his room, still in a T-shirt and shorts. He couldn't see anything that was going on, but that didn't matter even the least bit. The other senses Iggy still had left had adapted over time to work even better for the single one he had lost. Before an Eraser could even take a slash at him with his knife, Iggy had already heard it, blocked, and finished off by taking the Eraser's head in both his hands and breaking its neck with one swift motion, before it even had time to think.

"_Capture the bigger girl!_" the biggest one (which had been assumed to be the commander) yelled. Max knew immediately who it was talking about. They wanted _her_. "And _get the dark boy!_"

Evidently, they wanted Fang as well. It was then a terrible realization dawned on Max, as she burst the ear drums of the Eraser currently trying to get his huge mitts on her. Ella was screaming at the top of her lungs, and it looked as if the Eraser was trying to kill her. There was an explosion, and part of the ceiling started to cave in, a few of the Erasers, and everyone else flying across the room. The Erasers, of course, for the most part, got right back up, snarling – eyes dilated.

"El!" Max called, holding her sleeve up to the trickle of blood pouring from her nose, but the creature closest to her knocked her off her feet and tried to hold her down. Fang literally jumped right over three different Erasers just to get to her side where he was able to pull that one off. He quickly helped Max to her feet and planted an elbow in the face of the one who was trying to rip her throat out. There were tears forming in El's eyes, but she had managed to plant some good punches and kicks herself, executing the self-defense techniques Max had tried to show her so many times before. She wasn't used to any of this, and Max would have been willing to bet she had never fought _anything_ in her life. Max gave a quick and hard chop to the creature's wind pipe closest to her and clapped her hands over his ears like she had done to the other one. It howled and fell to its knees.

Not three feet from her, Iggy was holding his own with deadly accuracy. It was scary how well he could fight without seeing anything. Fang's side was soaked with blood and the mutant on him wasn't about to let up. What was worse was that ever time an Eraser went down, more just kept coming in through the windows. It was absolutely hopeless, and that was something none of them ever liked to admit. Max was finally knocked to the ground, to where the last thing she saw was the tip of a boot hurtling towards her head.

Fang cried her name, but that was all she saw or heard before her senses were drown with darkness, and she instantaneously lost all consciousness.

* * *

><p>Fang watched in horror as his leader, his best friend was knocked unaware, and the biggest Eraser picked her up in his large, awkward paws. He tried to make it through the tangle of monsters, and managed to give the Eraser a strong kick in his kidneys. But instead of howling and keeling over, the Eraser's yellow eyes flashed angrily, and it punched Fang so hard in the stomach that he literally saw stars. Not because Fang was weak, but because he had already lost so much blood from that first wound he'd received at the beginning of the fight. Dark circles danced in his vision.<p>

But Fang was livid as hell. Unfurling his wings, he became airborne enough to kick the creature as hard as he could hard in the face, and then swoop in from behind to chop it in the neck with all his might. But just before he was able to execute his move, there was a loud _bang, _and a pain he had actually _never_ known before exploded in his left shoulder, like someone was driving a pick-ax through him. He bit his tongue so hard that it bled.

This gunshot echoed through the room and suddenly everything seemed more muffled and dampened. Fang was covered in dark, warm liquid, and it took him a moment to realize it was really coming from his body. The warm liquid spilled out of him like a fountain, and he began to feel unbearably light-headed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw El being tossed hard at the wall like a rag doll, and Iggy finally being caught off-guard by a new onrushing mob of Erasers, being knocked in the head with the butt of the gun before he could even lift his hand to block it.

And then Fang was out like a light.

As soon as he had been shot, Ella knew that there was absolutely no hope left. The Erasers were sure of it too, and they whooped, one of them high fiving the other as he roughly picked up her tiny frame and threw her as hard as he could against the remaining wall. Another Eraser hit Iggy in the head hard enough to break the skin on contact. Ella's body ricocheted off the wall and she slid to the floor like a sack of Irish potatoes. Her body ached and she watched helplessly as the commanding Eraser picked Max's limp body off the ground, binding her wrists together with duct tape, and doing the same thing to Max' mouth.

Fang's blood pooled all around him and stained the floor.

He was going to die – Ella was sure of it.

She never stopped screaming Max's name, but her leader never stirred. And when she tried to get up and fight for her, one of the Erasers pointed a gun right at her head. A warning shot flew right past her, skimming her hairline. "Say one more thing," the Eraser growled, "and I'll blow your _goddamn head off_."

Little Ella watched helplessly through her tears as the pack left as quickly, and as silently as they had come.

As soon as Fang, Iggy, and herself had been "dealt" with, the Erasers were gone, and this time, they had Max.

* * *

><p>When her eyes opened, Max wasn't where she expected to be. The lighting was all wrong.<p>

Her hands were gathered tightly behind her back, held there with rough, plastic bindings. She could taste blood in her mouth, and she thought that maybe her hair might be plastered to her head with more of it.

All around her, there was a low general hum, a clear indication she could be in some type of motor vehicle. Like a helicopter or a semi, maybe? She didn't know. Ugh, she couldn't believe that she'd allowed them to get the better of her! She couldn't really see anything, but she thought that was mostly due to the fact that it was dark in the place she was being contained in. There were random spots where piercing white light shone through, but that didn't really tell her anything. Then they hit a pothole and her head wacked the floor kind of hard, and that was all the indication she needed. They were on the road, probably heading in the general direction of the Institute. Well,_ that_ would explain why it was so damn hot in the carrying container. Nevada. Shit.

She tried to sit up a bit, in an effort to ease the painful throbbing in her head and get the blood flowing again, but she was roughly shoved back down with the butt of a gun. "_Don't move a muscle,"_ a coarse voice growled, "I'll shoot."

_Oh, sure they would_. She, being the most advanced scientific experiment ever performed on the DNA of a human being, not to mention the most expensive project ever undergone…

"So, Fido, where are we goin'?" she asked, trying to not let her voice betray how literally frightened she was at that moment. They had been waiting around for years wondering if they would ever be found, and thought they never would be, but it seems that Dr. Louis' hideout couldn't stay covert forever.

An unexpected warning shot blasted about an inch away from her left hand, indicating for her to be quiet, and succeeded in shutting her up. She bit her lip and tried to concentrate on relaxing the knotted muscles in her forehead, because it freaking hurt like a mother. The last thing she had seen before she had passed out was being kicked in the head, and then hearing a gunshot before it all went foggy.

And _Oh_,_ God, the flock. _

"What did you do with my family?" Max blurted, sounding a little more squeaky than she wanted, and also not really caring at this point if they took a pop at her or not. Right now, she was more use to them alive than dead, so odds were they wouldn't hurt her too badly.

_Pshow!_

Another warning shot, this time, a good three centimeters from the tip of her nose. _Well, at least we know they're a good shot._

She decided to take a risk. After all, she had endured several other gunshot wounds in her lifetime. "What did you _do with them?_" she demanded, more authority in her voice than there was before. That was better.

The one Eraser murmured to one of the others, and answered her vaguely, "It doesn't matter anymore."

"What the hell do you mean, 'it doesn't matter anymore'?"

"I mean, they're _dead_."

She scoffed, hating how bitter her laughter sounded even now. "You didn't kill them, I know you didn't. You wanted Fang, too, didn't'cha'?"

"We have no purpose for the dark boy any longer. He has been terminated," the Eraser responded monotonically, which indicated that there could be more than what he was telling her to this.

A spark out of the corner of her eye caught her attention as one of the Erasers, the big one, the commander, had lit a cigarette. He got up from the barrel he had been sitting on and strolled surprisingly steadily in the semi car to where she was bound on the floor. Now that she could see, she observed that the cuffs which were binding her were linked to a chain and a pike in the wall. He moseyed in a circle for a bit, and then blew some smoke in her face, which really didn't do much for her headache.

"You enjoy your little wake-up call, Maxie?"

It took all of her _Maximum_ self-control not to spit on the bastard's expensive-looking leather boots. The ones that had kicked her in the head and sent her spiraling into unconsciousness.

She gritted her teeth. "What did you do to my family?" she demanded again.

"You want to know?" he asked, laughing, her hating every ounce of it that carried in his throaty voice. "You really want to know? Okay, well, they're _dead_, if you really must get an answer."

"I don't believe you."

"You don't believe me? That's fine, but it's the truth," he breathed some more smoke and let it leak from his lips slowly. This one was a little stranger than the other Erasers. He wasn't automatic or monotoned like the others. More personality, also, but he seemed really familiar too, which Max thought was really super weird.

Too familiar. And she couldn't place it. Man, this was going to bug her all day.

She considered what he had just told her. What if her family really _was_ dead? After all, the Erasers all had weapons and were more than capable of killing something or other.

"Let's see, that dark one, _Fang_, you called him? Well, I shot him in the shoulder…and the blind boy…oh, I believe he and the little girl were left unconscious in the burning house. And unfortunate end."

"Wait, burning house? _You burned our house?_"

She was now livid. He went there.

"Well, of course, that was the only way to ensure you all would never be together again. I mean, unless they somehow woke up in time to make it out, I'd say they're all as good as dead. You see, _just like_ I was telling you."

Hatred burned in Max's chocolate brown eyes. "You're sick."

The Eraser grinned. "No, I'm just getting started."

* * *

><p>(Phase 4)<strong> REVIEW because it makes me happy :D <strong>

**And if I'm happy, I write more, and then you, in tern, will also be happy. See? Reviewing builds rainbows. We can help one another :D**

**RAINBOWS.**

**~Steph**


	5. Over Fang's Mostly Dead Body

**I do not own Maximum Ride. This should be obvious by now...**

* * *

><p>Amidst everything (Fang bleeding out on the floor, and Iggy still unconscious), Ella would not have ever thought that the situation could honestly get any worse. But nothing could ever be easy for them, could it? She had been trying to wake Iggy by repeatedly slapping his face and shouting at him through her tears when there was a very loud <em>crack.<em> Instantaneously, half of the cabin became completely engulfed in flames.

Well, today had just been _peachy. _

The impact of the explosion caused the three of them to be thrown against the kitchen cabinets along with the shards of broken glass from the initial window break-in. On the bright side, the blind bird kid was jostled awake, but in a very unkindly manner.

"What _happened?_" Iggy yelled at Ella when he got his footing, him now covered in all sorts of cuts in addition to the others he had already acquired due to the previous hassle with the Erasers all of ten minutes earlies. "_What did they do with Max?" _he yelled at the top of his lungs.

"They took her!" Ella screamed back, wishing he wouldn't shout like that. She shook her head, throwing an angry finger towards Fang. "But that's not important right now! We can deal with that later 'cause _we need to_ _get him out of here now_."

Iggy blinked, suddenly realizing that Fang must be gravely injured, because he had known about the gunshot. He had heard it. He nodded and felt his way over to where Fang's body lay, mostly dead, and unconscious. "I'll take his arms, you get his legs and we'll carry him out. But _you_ need to calm the hell down!"

"I'm not gonna 'effin' _calm down!" _Ella sputtered, _"Fang is dying!_"

"_Fang's not going to die!" _Iggy shouted again, this time because he couldn't quite hear her over the flames. "Let's just get him out – follow me!"

She had a moment of confliction, but when she saw the dangerous flames dancing in Iggy's pale, unseeing eyes, she bent down and grabbed Fang's ankles with an iron grip. The smoke stung her eyes as she coughed, her gag reflex beginning to betray her. "Okay," she said loudly.

Getting their friend out of there was a painstaking process. It's not exactly an easy task to carry a bleeding, dying person out of a burning house _anywhere_, and all while you're not sure if he or she is even going to make it. A timber from the roof started to look like it was going to fall on them, and Ella yanked Fang so that he and Iggy were pulled quickly towards a window before it collapsed. Ig instructed Ella to climb out first, and that he'd lower Fang out right behind her.

Fang gave out a moan.

"Ella Martinez, I swear to _God_, if you drop him, I will never speak to you again," he warned, collecting the now very pale Fang in his strong arms.

She didn't. Of all the random things about the four being part bird, arguably the most important was the fact their bones were lighter than those of your average human, for their bodies were made to keep them in the air effortlessly. She couldn't be more thankful now as she and Iggy fell through the window, ran a safe distance from the house, and collapsed thirty feet away from the burning cabin. They watched while their memories and barely salvaged childhoods literally went up in smoke. But Iggy wasted no time barking instructions at El with the sole intention to keep Fang alive. They couldn't lose him too.

"Here, take his shirt off - we need to remove it from the place of injury so that it doesn't stick when it dries…" Iggy pulled off his own and started tearing it into long strips, "Ella, I need you to go back in and get your sewing kit and the first aid box – we need to stop this bleeding. _Go!_"

She didn't question him. Quickly, she ran right back up to the burning house and looked for an access point where she could slip back in without being burned too badly. The sewing kit, she was certain, was under the sink, and so was the first aid. Why had they never thought to put a first aid kit out by the trees? She was so angry at their failure to predict a sort of situation like this, and was furious at Max for not having the foresight to do so.

_Max. _

_Don't think about that, you need to get the kits. You can do this, you yourself can deal with some minor burns, but Fang's wounds _will_ kill him_, she told herself over again. _Get the kits, just get the kits._

After briskly circling the house, El was finally able to find a window where the flames behind it weren't all that heavy. She looked around her and discovered a sizeable rock to break it with. It shattered like a thin sheet of ice and she was able to look inside the house, which was completely burning aside for a small section of the kitchen. Ella could see the cabinet where the two things were contained from where she stood. The hot fumes burned her face, and the sweltering glass seared her fingers as she pulled herself through the window, but she didn't care. Thank God for adrenaline.

Ella dropped to the floor. Being inside of the house was like being contained in her own personal Hell. Smoke suffocated her breath, and she was forced to hold it as she inched over to where the kits were located in efforts to not scorch her windpipe – if that was even possible. The cabinet's handle was glowing with heat, so she peeled the door off with her fingernails and pulled it open with her burned fingertips which seemed to be screaming in protest. Quicker than anyone could ever bat an eye, she had picked up the kits and looked around briefly for anything else which might be useful to them in the days to come.

In her peripheral vision, she saw picture frame with a photo of Dr. Louis standing among a younger version of the flock hanging on the wall. It was across the burning room, where the fire had already worked through Iggy's former bedroom. It was advancing on the photograph, but suddenly, it didn't seem to matter at all to her that there was fire at all.

The rubber on the soles of her shoes melted while she stepped over a pile of burning embers and snatched the thing off the hanging nail. The glass randomly shattered under the intense heat of the cabin, sending needle-sharp shards into Ella's arm. The front door creaked for a second, aflame, and then collapsed next to her in a burst of white-hot sparks, leaving the entrance clear for exit. She greatfully accepted the opportunity for escape, tucking both the sewing and first aid kits under one arm and clutching the broken picture frame in the opposite hand.

The second she made it back to Iggy, he was nervously checking Fang's pulse, and giving him heart palpations. "You got it?" he inquired anxiously.

"Yeah," Ella's voice was completely void of breath.

She handed the first aid to Iggy, who instructed for her to keep pressure on the gaping side wound which was bleeding much more profusely than the bullet hole at this point.

"Don't take your hands off of this for any reason unless I tell you to, okay?" His hands and bare torso were stained the with blood that wasn't his.

God, she wished Max was here now. _She would know what to do._

Iggy fumbled around in the first aid kit until he found what he was looking for: a small pair of forceps. She watched squeamishly as he dipped them into the sight of entrance of the bullet, and held her lips together tightly as he painstakingly managed to wiggle the projectile out through the welling pool of blood. He had done this in less than a minute, and within seconds, the bullet was out and he was applying pressure to Fang's shoulder again. "It should stop the bleeding. It _should_."

They held this position for a very long time, perhaps hours, hoping and praying that the bleeding would finally stop and that Fang would be okay again. Iggy had to manually restart Fang's heart at three different points by doing more heart palpations. This went on all night, during while Iggy and herself barely spoke at all. The situation at hand was far too overwhelming.

Max was gone. That was for sure. This and that the house was burnt down to the ground, eventually dwindling to a few burning logs and copious amounts of smoke. The third was that Fang was hurt – really bad. There was a fair chance he could die, but also a fair chance he wouldn't. She and Iggy both knew this; that was it would be a very long time before the three of them would be able to go after Max. And even by then, the whitecoats could have done any sort of things to her.

The evening was cold once the fire went out and their place was reduced to graven ashes. The scratchy mountain grass was wet with the rain of the previous afternoon, and neither Ella nor Iggy had a jacket to wear. In fact, they were still in their pajamas. It was a long and bitterly cold night in the Colorado mountains.

Eventually, Fang's bleeding slowed enough so Iggy could apply some saline solution and basic antibiotic cream onto both of his wounds. Fang stirred a bit as the pain set in, and Ella's spirits began to rise. Maybe there was some hope after all. Iggy wasted no time to try and sew up the three long gashes from the Eraser's razor sharp claws, so that infection wouldn't so quickly set in. By the time he had mended the first, Fang had become conscious just to the enough so he could pull a few faces and wince a bit every time the needle went back into his skin, pulling out on the other side.

Ella was so tired that she almost didn't notice when his dark eyes opened a slit. The second she did, she quickly shuffled on her dirt-encrusted, scabby hands and knees to where he lay in the grass. She took his face in her hands.

"Fang? _Fang?_ Can you hear me?" His skin was so pale that he almost looked like a different person. Some of his overlong black hair was singed at the tips, and he had received several cuts from the shattered window all over his face, neck, and shoulders. They all had.

"'M fine…" he groaned.

Without stopping, Iggy asked quietly, "How do you feel, tough guy?"

Fang coughed once and winced. His lips moving silently as he gasped for words. "Like shit," he said weakly, touching his nearly severed tongue with his right hand. "Oh God_._"

"You ought to," Iggy informed him, placing the bullet in Fang's hand and patting it. "Cheated the reaper, you did, my friend."

"_Hmrrrmm_," he groaned painfully as Iggy continued sewing. Could it have honestly hurt any more?

It was amazing how neat Iggy's work was, considering he couldn't see a thing he was doing. In and out, in and out.

"Max…she…'kay…? ...Wrrs Max?"

The blind boy's jaw set as Ella looked away from Fang, gazing at the nightime mountain sky which glittered with an array of blue lights. Fang took the silence as an answer, and the three of them said no more until Iggy was done with the painstaking operation. He put more antibiotic ointment on the incisions and covered them each with a layer of gauze, medical tape on top of that, and then wrapped Fang's torso completely in an Ace bandage. The exhausted bird kid eventually fell asleep from exhaustion, and from then on, slept about as peacefully as one who just lost a third of his blood probably could. Ella had it in her mind that their enhanced regenerative abilities were the only thing that had kept him alive that night, and the reason his body was able to pump enough blood in order for him not to die. It was incredible, really.

Now that Fang was asleep and stable, she had Iggy patch her own burns, scrapes, and cuts; and she did the same for him. They fell asleep with their backs to one another, their wings spread out over their own bodies for warmth. As she lay there in the grass, she couldn't help but be plagued with possibilities of experiments that the whitecoats could be doing with Max. Why had they come, anyway? Why did they have to take her from them, and set the house on fire? The situation was difficult enough as it was, and Ella was beginning to feel the tough ache of hunger in her gut which yearned to be filled. She wondered if anything in the house had survived.

Next to her, the broken portrait of them and Dr. Louis sat untouched in the dirt. The broken glass distorted the image in some places, so she picked it up carefully, like it would shatter into a million pieces as soon as she laid a finger on it. The doctor's green eyes were shimmering brightly under the light of the afternoon sun while the rays ignited his red hair. They had all stood in the yard together after Lou had set the self-timer on the camera, and he had had his comforting arm around her, and the other around Fang. Fang had been smiling – a real smile, and he held Max around the waist in a very brotherly way. Iggy had two fingers up behind Ella's head.

Tears filled her eyes as she touched the image of Lou's kind face.

_I wish you could come back_, she thought, finally closing her sleepy eyes. _You'd know what to do._

At the same time, hundreds of miles away by now, Max was wishing the same thing as the semi finally turned off from the highway and began rolling down a bumpy dirt road. She hated the desert nights, in places like this where it was always just a little too hot. However, she preferred be a little too hot to being a little too cold, she remembered, thinking of the frigid temperatures of the Institute and its air-conditioning that worked a little too well.

After about another hour of listening to the Erasers play travel poker on a fold-out table and finding slight amusement in how completely idiotic they all were, the semi finally found pavement yet again and stopped so abruptly that one or two of them fell out of their chairs. Someone kicked Max hard in the side once and gruffly ordered her to stand up. She could hear the shackles she was bound by becoming unhooked from the pike and felt sour in her gut. She didn't want this. She didn't want this to be happening.

"Ready to have some fun, Maxie?" the brute, Ari growled, yanking on her manacles.

Snarling, Max stomped on his foot as hard as she possibly could. He yelped and slapped her across the face, leaving her stinging and red. She was roughly lifted by two of the other Erasers and dragged to where the sun was just beginning to rise, leaving the sky appropriately crimson-colored. In the distance, she could see the golden glow as it stretched across the salt flats at the Badwater Basin. She began to feel a sense of dread. This was the landscape she remembered when the whitecoats would set her and Fang free in the courtyard to be chased by Erasers in order to test their strength and agility. This was the only time they were allowed outside, and this landscape did not leave her with a feeling of home. Colorado was her home, and she would find a way to get back there if it would kill her, regardless of whether or not they had really killed her family.

She was set back onto her bare feet, red dirt and pieces of gravel under her toes, and she was forced to walk, led on the lead like some kind of dog. It was shameful, and they knew it, laughing at her as she was shoved along.

The Institute was just like she had remembered it, and the last time she had laid eyes on it was out of the back window of Lou's old rickety stationwagon. The trademark red dust had collected on the back windows as they had sped away in fear of being caught, knowing that they would be killed if they even thought about stopping. She had never held her bladder so long in her _life_.

Now the building loomed over in front of her. It was at least twelve stories high, completely filled with God knew what. Scientific torture devices, operating rooms, experimentation labs, or countless cages which contained the bodies of modified children all of whom had no hope of ever escaping. Every room, every hallway, one two three four five. There were three different columns of the main building, and the middle, the tallest, had a panel of windows reaching from the very top to the very bottom which was curved outwards. The dark sky and stars were reflected in the tinted glass, and captured the light of the crimson sunrise. As Max was brought closer to the high-security front doors, she observed several snipers perched on various ledges of the building. One of the black figures picked up a radio and started talking into it. They approached the entrance, and a dark hood was thrown over her head, blocking her view so she couldn't see where they were taking her.

_It's bad, it's bad, it's bad…_ she repeated in her mind over and a over again. Images of her worst nightmares danced behind her eyelids. She knew that they had only brought her here for one thing, and that was to produce more of her kind.

She snarled.

Quickly, Max threw a double-fisted punch to her left at the guard walking beside her, and then whipped around to do the same to her left. Her incredible hearing, like Iggy's, was able to compensate for her lack of eyesight, and she heard both gasp, and a few other members of the party start to shout. Iron grips enclosed around her, and she found that no matter how hard she fought, she couldn't move.

_Maximum security_, she thought, struggling. The irony.

She tried unfurling her wings, but was met with the hard plastic bindings which kept them stuck in a bent position, keeping her from moving them at all. He body was picked up by many hands, and she was met with the hard, unwelcoming metal of a hospital gurney. Only, here at the Institute, they weren't just used as hospital beds – they were restraints. The Erasers themselves were not all that much stronger than she was, but their sheer number immobilized her, and she was strapped down with rough Velcro strips.

The gurney began to move, rolling and gliding down some narrow corridor, for she could tell by the way sounds bounced off the walls. The Eraser pack had somewhat shrunk since she was now inside of the establishment. She could even see now in the elevator the all-too-familiar florescent lights which haunted her childhood with memories of burning, aching, and endless, endless pain. The smell of antiseptic overwhelmed her senses. Her skin itched, and she didn't stop screaming until a needle was plunged into her bound wrist, and an overwhelming darkness consumed her.

When she regained consciousness, she was again strapped to the bed, but this time, she had been changed into a thin hospital gown and was in some sort of holding room. It was more like a cell, actually, and everything in it was white. The smell had not changed, and the lighting was still as unfriendly and cold as it had been before she had passed out. Hunger, also, had somehow found its way into her body, and she felt she needed food so badly she was almost nauseated. Needing three thousand calories a day was a stretch, but in the last forty-eight hours, she'd had nothing. In addition, her lips were dry, and her eyelids felt crusty. Silence, now, seemed like her greatest foe.

She waited for what seemed like eternity while a clock in the corner ticked off the time. With each additional _tick_, she felt more and more like she was going to lose it. She was fixating on the noise, much like a bird would, and the whitecoats knew this. She guessed it was some type of torture apparatus designed specifically for her. Finally, there was the telltale _clunk_ of a highly secured door being opened, and Max turned her head to look who it was coming for her. If they were there to kill, she was ready.

But it wasn't some contract killer. A weasely, dark-haired scientist with squinty eyes and glasses appeared .Completely and totally _not_ the huge Eraser the Hulk-like-creature-with-a-large-syringe-in-its-hand that she had expected.

The little man licked his lips and scribbled something down on his clipboard, elevator music playing in the hallway outside of the cell.

Okay, _that_ was anticlimactic.

He glanced over what he had just written down, twitched like a little rodent, and then looked at Max with his beady rat eyes for a full minute. She didn't break eye contact. Or blink.

The scientist hiccupped and left.

Max lay in her awkward half-on-her-side position and stared at the door for a few seconds. What the _hell_?

But then a while later, maybe five minutes, another whitecoat entered the cell, and this time it was one that she recognized from a long time ago, Dr. ter Borcht. Anyone with a name as random as his would be able to understand that he was not native to the United States, and was probably from some non-English-speaking European country, by the looks of it his dark hair, complexion, and black eyes. From behind his glasses, she could still recognized the man who had been hours away from forcing her and her best friend to have relations before she and Fang were whisked away from this terrible place.

"Jou are feeling vell, yes?" he asked, taking out a pen and a note pad. What was with the note pads? What were they taking notes on?

Max swirled the words around in her mouth a bit before retorting, "I'll be feeling better when your fat ass is out of my sight, Borchy."

"Jor English es improving," the doctor observed without missing a beat.

"Can we stop stating the obvious, please?" Max tried to sound as bored as she possibly could. "I'm a _big girl_ now," she acted like she was talking to a two-year-old.

The second those words left her mouth, ter Borcht gave an ugly little smile. "Jes, I have noticed zees...I have noticed zees."

"What does that mean? I can finally graduate from Pull-Ups?" Max said sarcastically.

"Max, I am going to ve straight veesh jou," ter Borcht walked right up to the gurney where she was bound. She held her breath as his foul odor filled her hyper-sensitive nostrils. "I have no intension of using joo with experiments like ve have in ze past. Jour next shall ve jour greatest yet."

"And what exactly does that mean, Borchy?" she asked. "Am I swallowing radioactive dye? Are you going to hook painful electrodes up to me? What's it going to be this time?"

He paced around the room as little as he could, seeing as he was a man of rotund stature. "Vell, jou see, Maximum," he started, "eet es a very big problem zat ze other boy was killed. Quite ze pity, vecause ve engineered him for jou…for…_reproductive _purposes."

Max scowled at him, acid burning in her hungry gut.

"You're disgusting," she growled.

"Non," he corrected her, turning around and looking at her right in the eyes. "I am a scientist. I am curious about zings. Jou are my property, and I vanted jou back. Now I have jou. And I want to grow a new _generacion_. Jou see, Maximum?"

Her anger got the better of her this time, and she gathered up the saliva to spit on his clean, white lab coat. Ter Borcht looked at the clear mess sliding silently down the fabric, and he sighed almost sadly. "Max," he said, shaking his head, "Jou have made a very powerful enemy."

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><p><strong>At this point, I'd just like some reviews, so that's all I ask :) Love you all! <strong>

**~Steph**


	6. Keller, Helen

**Well, it's that time of the week again. UPDATE DAY. I'd like to again thank my wonderful reviewers, because I really, really love you. Special shout-outs to The Wolf Who Walks Alone and Pancakes-For-You! Your reviews are so legit its insane. **

**Also, so has anyone else read the Hunger Games? I spent the entire day yesterday neglecting my homework so I could finish Mockingjay...and the ending _sucked_. What is it with book writers these days? Can't they finish a book in a decent fashion? Take James Patterson for example *coughsputter*. I was not a happy camper. **

**I'm also happy tonight because I accidentally read the wrong Chem chapter the other week and did all the homework, and then had to go back and do the right chapter homework (was not fun at all!), but now I have had no homework over spring break. It is _wonderful_. So I had the time to write up this chapter today, which was really nice since I was completely busy the last week. I finished the last three hundred pages of the fifth Harry Potter book, read Catching Fire, _and_ Mockingjay all this weekend. In. Tense. And like I said, I was a little disappointed. I have never read so much in my _life_.**

**And Kroger's Cookies and Cream ice cream? _The best stuff in the world. _Not even kidding, it is the flat-out best ice cream there is. **

**Go. Try. It. And. Enjoy. The. Chapter. While. You. Do. **

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><p>"What are you doing?"<p>

The scientist that had been doing tests on Max all morning to prep her for something they wouldn't tell her about looked up at her as she was artfully strapped into some bizarre chair. Hooked up to all kinds of things, and one of those monitors looked scarily like an electrical box. They said they might zap her or something if she tried anything, but Max knew better. She was too valuable to them to get rid of so quickly.

So she had stuck to making snide remarks and sarcastic comments until someone had blown a dart at her through a tube so suddenly that she didn't have time to move. Now, she was feeling sort of loopy, and the colors in the room (mostly white) were starting to blend together in a sort of psychedelic watercolor. She was actually disappointed that the effects didn't make her giddy or anything, like she had heard, from Iggy, that drugs could do to you. These sorts of things _would_ only come from Iggy.

Through her daze, she could see the Eraser that had been assigned particularly to keep an eye on her and make sure that she wasn't doing anything rash. It was the big one, Ari, the one that shot Fang and had tried to kill Ella, and now his steady yellow eyes watched her all while she was trying her best to keep her own from meeting his. There was something about his face that she found oddly familiar, and she couldn't quite place it, even now, after staying at the Institute overnight. His gaze made her skin crawl, and she wished they had assigned someone else to look after her. He wasn't morphed or anything, but his wolf-colored hair and golden eyes certainly gave him away as some sort of scientific hybrid.

They had told her that she was here only because they wanted to make cheap replacements for her and the flock, but weirdly, they hadn't started any experiments which she found could lead to some sort of, erm, pregnancy. On the inside, Max was livid, but she tried to regain her composure as the whitecoats started sending electric shocks to different parts of her body to measure her nerve impulse responses. How the hell were they even going to go about doing this? They wanted her to have Fang's children, but Fang was…dead.

_Fang is dead_, she repeated in her mind with bitter agony. She wanted to believe he was still alive, she did, but who could really survive a bullet to the shoulder, close to where the heart sits? Max was trying her hardest to keep her mind off of it and not trust what the whitecoats were saying. She'd rather live in her denial anyway. Fang would survive...he always survived, didn't he?

But still, as she sat through the pain of the electrical probes, she couldn't help but feel a lump in the back of her throat, because she subconsciously already believed what they had said. Fang was dead, and she would never see him again. The thought of him laying white-faced and bloody, face up on his back on the kitchen floor haunted her the rest of the day throughout her experimental processing. It was while she was shoved into a new cell that evening that she finally let the tears slide. She wasn't sure if she really had loved Fang other than a brother at all, but now that all didn't matter. She fingered the binding bracelet around her wrist which would electrocute her excruciatingly if she so much as tried to get out of the cell.

Max's entire body ached from exhaustion. She had been forced to run for four hours straight without any water or food prior to the procedure. They had attached several probes to her body so they could measure the way her heart beat, or something like that, she wasn't completely sure. She'd also been forced to fight three Erasers at once so they could judge how well she had been improving in her strength and agility the three years she had been missing. She had a nasty slice to her right arm which had been doctored up after she had killed all three of the monsters, but it still hurt really bad, and they hadn't given her any pain killers. Bastards.

It was then that a bit of food on a tray had been thrust through the mail slot in her door, and her hopes lifted just a little bit. Granted, it was a dry biscuit and a tube of nutritional paste, but she was grateful for it nonetheless. She hadn't eaten at all since she'd arrived, and she suspected it was because they wanted to see how long she could go without. And now, she was shaking so badly she could barely rip the marked tab off the tube packet so she could bring it to her lips.

A small water bottle was thrown in too, after a delayed few minutes, and she grabbed it before she even continued trying to open the food. Her mouth was so dry. It was one of the real little bottles which always left you wanting more, but she wasn't complaining. She'd had much worse in her life, and had been very nearly dehydrated to death several times. She drank and ate in silence while she sat on the cold tile floor, which was soaking all of the heat from her body without having the decency to ask.

Great, she was talking to inanimate objects. She was talking to the _floor_.

When she had finally drank the last sip of water, and held it in her mouth to savor the glorious hydration, Max fell again in to a deep and troubled sleep. She heard the gunshot which felled Fang and the image of flames dancing within her house haunted her unconscious mind behind her fluttering eyelids. She watched everyone she loved die all over again. Lou, Iggy, Fang, and Ella. All dead. All dead.

When she became conscious again, she got the feeling that she wasn't alone. She was again strapped to another table, and from the looks of it, was about to be examined again for about the billionth time by a guy in a white suit and purple latex gloves. Had they _not_ gotten the information they need the first time? How many of these was it going to take? A mask was placed over her mouth and nose, and she was forced to breathe in whatever was contained in the tube.

She is restrained with tight bindings as he hospital gown is zipped down the middle to expose her to the circle of scientists in white coats that never got their fill of poking and prodding her stomach and checking things she'd rather they didn't to make sure she was ready for what they thought would be her most important task as a experiment. It sickened her as they spoke of her body like she wasn't even there in the room, and she was pretty sure they had drugged her with the mask so she couldn't resist and couldn't speak to object to their demands and experiments. She didn't even have the brain capacity to feel embarrassed at this point.

Were her hips wide enough? How many could she bear at one time? _Who_ shall we use? How? When? All while she sat there dumbly as a helpless paralytic. She could only hope that the others, Fang, Iggy, and Ella would be able to get here in time to make sure that what these evil people were planning for her would not happen, and that she would be able to escape and live her life and make her own futuristic decisions on her _own_.

A mask was placed over her mouth and she was forced again to breathe some sweet-smelling gas which eventually lost her resistance as it pulled her under while she still lay at the mercy of the doctors.

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><p>When Fang awoke the next morning, he was acutely aware of the stabbing pain in his side and the dull throb in his shoulder. He couldn't decide what hurt the most, and when he opened his eyes, he found that he had been moved from where he had fallen asleep. His paranoia kicked into overdrive, and his dizzy head whipped around to try and register his surroundings. No Erasers, and he was propped up against a large pine tree, which smelled kind of like those candles Ella would always make from the needles which were shed every year from its branches.<p>

Ella, Iggy.

He tried to move his arms and scoot somewhere else, but the pain shopped him short and knocked his breath right out of him. His shoulder protested angrily when he decided to test his left arm, and he had to bite his lip to keep from crying out...in a very badass, manly way. There was a thick bandage wrapped around his bare waist had been soaked and dried with his almost black blood, which had the signature workings of Iggy, who had always been good with those things. There was still a thick pad bandaged to the bullet wound in his shoulder that, to his knowledge, was still bleeding – more so when he moved it a little.

Though his cloudy dark eyes, he was able to observe the whereabouts of the first aid kit, which was only about a few feet from his right foot, closed securely to avoid contamination. The sewing kit also was not too far from it either. But where was the rest of the flock? He could hazily remember being dragged through their burning house that previous evening. Or at least he thought it was the previous evening. He couldn't be sure. How many days had passed? One, maybe two? He recalled waking up while being stitched back together with a sharp needle and a spool of sewing thread while Ella looked on. He may have said something, but he couldn't remember. That bothered him.

Where the_ hell_ was he?

Fang groaned loudly as his body protested the movement of getting to his feet. His abdominal muscles, it appeared, had been severed to some extent on his side, but he prevailed. As soon as he was to his feet, the pain was so terrible that he was now fully awake and could look around. In the distance, he could see a pale, and shirtless figure approaching him through the mess of foliage with another smaller shape accompanying it to its side. He knew right away who these were, and breathed a shaky sigh of relief. It was then he realized Iggy had probably used his shirt to save his life.

As soon as Ella was within distance to see the hunched, dark body of her friend, she yelled, "Hey! Sit back down!"

Her companion likely guessed what was going on, his arms completely full of charred junk, and he added, "Yeah, moron, plant your caboose right back on the ground! Don't let my sewing skills go to waste!"

Fang scowled and did as he was told, painstakingly maneuvering himself back against the rough bark of the pine. On her back, Ella sported the very blackened, but not altogether damaged body of Fang's old blue backpack. She unzipped it when she was finally just a few feet away from him and plopped it down in the soil, which was littered with dead pine needles. She began, not even allowing him to open his mouth to ask questions, "Iggy and I went back to the cabin to see what might be left from the fire. And, yes, this was all we found."

"And what exactly did you_ find_?"

Ella huffed. "Next to nothing," she said unhappily, but continued with a deep breath, "But, what we did find was a good number of canned goods like ravioli and beets – oh, grow up, Iggy – so, good news, we most likely don't starve to death in the woods."

"_I'm not eating beets_,_" _Iggy said forcefully, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I never said you had to!"

"You sure as hell sounded like it!"

"Yeah, 'cause I'm going to shove beets down your throat. No, I'm–!"

"_Okay_," Fang cut in with the use his hand. "So, does this mean we're going after her?"

This brought them all back to the current situation with Max, which obviously did not look very optimistic, so the three of them fell silent. El bit her lip and her throat tightened. Iggy was the first to speak, after emptying the contents of his load onto the ground beside Fang. "I don't think we really have a choice, do we? I mean, she'd do the same for any of us."

"Maybe not _you_," Ella said pointedly.

"You don't think they'd kill her, do you?" Fang sounded genuinely upset, which was something that none of them had ever heard taint his voice, except for the night before Lou died and the days right after. "Would they torture her, do you think?"

Ella dropped down next to him and put an arm around his good shoulder. "Oh, Fang…"

He scowled at her, "Don't _oh, Fang_ me – I was asking a question!"

"_Yes," _Iggy exasperated, "Okay, if you want an answer, _yes_ and yes, we all know it's not beyond the Institute's ability. They're lowlifes, we all know that! And, Fang, we're all as upset about this as you are, so lay off!"

"I wasn't, and no, you're–"

Jumping to her feet, El clapped her hand onto Iggy's neck, which startled him out of his hissy fit.

"What t–!" This seemed to calm him somewhat, and he brought his own hand to take hers away from his jugular and just hold it for a second."I'm just – it's just…" he struggled, dropping to his knees on the ground, and ran his free hand through his hair. He spit in the dirt and pulled it away. "This _sucks_. This wasn't supposed to ever happen, was it? Lou prepared _this place_, _this location_, so we would never have to deal with this again. Never have to deal with the Institute again, and now Max is gone, and they're probably doing terrible, painful tests on her, and now Fang's _shot _and we can't move, and I'm blind, and _goddammit_, you can't even _fly!_" he ended, pointing an accusing finger at El.

With a sharp intake of breath and narrowed eyes, the hand Ella had placed on his shoulder dropped. She walked a short distance away and started prodding through the pile of things they recovered from the house. She picked up a broken pen from Lou's old desk and the remnants of a few books which had remarkably escaped the all-consuming flames. She put the books down, but the pen remained in her trembling hands. They all knew what was going through her mind. Dr. Louis wouldn't want them to be fighting. They were all better than that.

"Bastard," she uttered.

"I'm sorry," Iggy said.

El nodded, but didn't look at him. He reached out and wrapped his arms around her, and she didn't pull away. "I'm sorry," he said again. "You're beautiful with or without wings."

"You're a blind idiot."

He let her go, and she gave him a small smile that he couldn't see, so she lifted his hand to her lips.

Feeling awkward, Fang shifted his weight against the tree and said, "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm _starving_."

Iggy touched Ella's arm. "In the mood for some cold chicken_ thoop_?" he said in a sort of Elmer Fuddy kind of way, trying to make up for his blunder.

"As a matter of fact, I am, Helen _Keller_."

"Deserved that," Fang remarked with a pained smirk on his handsome, bloodstained face.

Iggy spun around, looking very confused for a moment. "Did you saaay something?" He pantomimed a walking stick and tripped over a can in the process, and they all died laughing, almost like their situation didn't exist at all. "You there, cripple! Don't you be gigglin' at me!" He sounded like an old hag, and this sent them into another fit of hysterics.

"Girl you better be lookin' out 'cause I will _cut_ you!" Ella countered cockily, wagging a finger and finding a decent sized rock to bash a hole in her can.

"Bon Qui-Qui..." Iggy drawled in an African American accent.

Even Fang was laughing so hard that he supposed his side was probably bleeding again. "In all seriousness," he interjected, "Ig, I think I might have split my side."

"For reals?" Iggy took a long gulp of the thick, cold soup, and handed the can to Ella. "You know, that actually would be pretty ironic."

"Yeah, whatever."

Ella turned her head away as Iggy peeled back the bandage to have a look at Fang's injury. The boy's face hadn't yet regained its color, and she supposed it was all due to loosing so much blood. "Ooh," she heard Iggy hiss, "That still looks pretty nasty. Here, Ella?" he gestured to her, and she had to force herself to swallow. "I need you to get me another threaded needle. He ripped a few stitches out."

"Yikes," was all she said, instantly envisioning what he looked like right then. The mangled skin now ripped further due to their horsing around. Yuck.

Later that night, Fang was beginning to believe that he might be getting better after all. Iggy checked it before they all decided it would be best to get some sleep, and it turned out the bullet wound wasn't showing any signs of shrapnel and was pulling itself together without ever needing stitches. This, it seemed, was one of the only good things that happened as a result of their multi-creatural DNA mixing. They healed super fast. So instead of Fang's injuries taking a few weeks to recover from, Iggy estimated it would only take them three days or so before Fang was fit to move around again. And then they were going to go after Max. Fang just hoped it wasn't too late. Max had always refused to tell him what the whitecoats were planning on doing to both of them before they were rescued and taken out of the Institute, and now he really wished she had told him what it was.

Because whatever it was, they were probably going to make up for all this lost time.

Iggy poked the can of chunky beef stew in the glowing embers of their campfire. He was on first watch tonight, and had strictly forbidden Fang from taking a shift because he needed his rest. Fang was about to protest when Ella had given him one of her _looks_, which meant that if you didn't do what El wanted, you would probably wake up the next morning missing a limb. So he had agreed and propped himself up again next to the tree, leaned his head against the trunk, and closed his dark eyes.

He imagined Max locked in a cage, probably hungry and sick with an IV drip attached to her hand. Her eyes would be sunken by the next time he saw her, probably. And for some reason, in his dream, he can see through the bars of the cage her very obviously swollen abdomen as she turns and looks at him with sad, haunting eyes.

Suddenly, Fang knew what they were doing to her.

He shakes Ella awake, "Guys we need to leave _now_."

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><p><strong>Sorry this chapter was kind of short and filler-ish...but anyway, I'd love it now if you reviewed! Also, let me know what you think. Should they make Max get pregnant? Should she not? Would it be detrimental to the plot? Do you love Iggy? Are you a fan of hot gingers? Can you tell me what children's songs are popular in Mexico?<strong>

**Please review.**

**~Steph**


	7. Of Which Dear Gregory is Mislead

**So I finally broke down and bought the first two Maximum Ride books in hardcover with the original cover art from the 2000's. I'd had them in paperback, but they were kind of falling a part, and oh, goodness, they are the most beautiful looking books in the entire world. I wanted to squeal with joy. **

**I also guess that the new Hunger Games movie came out and I am super excited to go see it! In other news, I failed my driver's license driving test - badly, and developed planar fasciitis in both my feet. Nice to know things are going well for me, right? Anyway, at least I still have, like, fingers and both elbows. **

**Please thoroughly enjoy this next chapter. This, I demand. **

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><p>Ella nearly squealed when someone grabbed her ankle in her sleep, pulling her out of a nice dream where everything was okay, and Max was still with all of them. The sun had been shining through her bedroom window, and she was laying on her bed right next to Iggy, who was stretched out on his back with his hands behind his neck. They had been having some very philosophical conversation, as they generally did when just the two of them were alone. Iggy wasn't always a complete spaz and all over the place. Then they had spoken a few words about how they felt a connection to one another because of their disabilities and he had reached over to touch her cheek and she had smiled at him - when Fang brought her back into the cold, dark world.<p>

Somewhere close to her head, she could hear the crackling of the glowing embers in the fire pit that they had dug in an attempt to keep the three of them alive and free of burning hair while they slept. "God_dammit_, Fang, what is it?" she had growled at him angrily at the same time he sputtered,

"Guys, we have to leave _now_!"

Iggy had been on guard, and he turned his head a little to point his eyes in the general direction Fang's flailing body. "What's going on?" he demanded, suddenly half on his feet in a sort of crouch, ready to get moving immediately if something was really going amiss.

"It's Max," Fang said, breathing deeply as if the amount of oxygen could erase the memory from his mind. "It's what they're _doing_ to her."

Fang had blinked a few times before rubbing his face and starting to clean up their meager amount of belongings. He hissed inwardly as he felt the familiar dull ache of his newly stitched side and the bullet wound that had threatened to take his life a few nights before. It took him a few seconds to fully process what he had just seen in his dream, what had disturbed him so much and left such an imprint on his mind. The haunting, sorrowful eyes of the girl he loved and the unmistakable bulge of what could only have been her expectant belly. _That_ was what they were doing with Max. _That_ was why they needed to get moving. "They're so _sick!_"

"What, man?" Iggy asked, but he made no answer as he forced himself onto his feet to kick the fire to get the remaining embers extinguished. He fought Iggy while he tried to stabilize him. Fang looked completely _mad_.

Quickly, Ella raised herself to Fang's relative level and clasped his shoulders – yes, even the injured one – to stop him from moving and tearing his wound further in his distress. "Fang, _Fang!_ Could you just quit it and tell us what's going on?"

A look passed across his wild eyes, and recognition finally registered. Maybe it was only a dream.

"I had a dream," he said, leaning himself up against the tree while he stood and wrapping an arm around the back of it, "of what the Institute wants from Max."

"And that is..?" Iggy pressed.

"They want her…" he started, putting a hand to his forehead and rubbing it, not being able to believe the absurdity of this scenario. "They want her to have a baby," he said.

Ella stared at him dumbfounded, nonspeaking, while Iggy blurted, "_What?_"

Angrily, Fang shot back, "They wanted Max and I to produce a child – that's why Lou came and rescued us from the Institute in the first place. I used to try and press Max into telling me what it was he saved us from several times, but she wouldn't let up. She didn't want to tell me, and _this is why. _They wanted me to _knock_ _her up_. She didn't want me to know, and I think she didn't want anyone else to, either."

Fang had not spoken this many words since the last time he had talked to the doctor. He was clearly very worked up, which would be the only logical reason why he would ever utter this many syllables. Weighing this, Iggy chose his next few words very carefully. "Okay," he began, gesturing with his hand to try and visually calm Fang down and perhaps realize that what he saw in his dream didn't exactly mean all that he had just concluded. "Fang, it was just a dream. It could just be a figment of your imagination or something. Maybe your brain is just making a bunch of stuff up, huh?"

"No," Fang paced around the vanishing fire a bit and ran a hand through his blood-matted hair. He should probably bathe sometime soon. "It was so_ real_. Her eyes…"

This was all very trippy to El. She hardly ever heard about the Institute, mainly because none of them ever wanted to talk about it. It was kind of a touchy subject for all of them, and not a topic of conversation, really. Hearing about the atrocities commonly committed in the place was not something lightly brought up. And it really scared her, quite frankly.

"She was in a cage," Fang continued. "She was there, alone, and there was an IV drip attached to her wrist…probably giving her some sort of steroid to make sure that the baby grew healthily."

Nobody said anything, and he started just spewing all the things he had seen behind his eyelids in the safety of his dream. "It was terrible, and she was so, so skinny."

He looked right up at Iggy, who couldn't see him, but spoke directly to him in a way that he would be able to understand was intended just for him. "Ig, we need to get going. Tonight. _Now_."

The blind boy just stared sightlessly into the dirt below his sneakered feet. After a moment, he nodded to himself and said, "Okay," simply, and then turned to Ella. "Get the bag, we're moving. Fang, how's your side feeling? Can you fly?"

Fang pulled a face and tried unfolding his wings, very slowly, until all sixteen feet of them were out behind him. He moved them as much as he could while the expression he was making betrayed his next words, "I think I feel fine."

"You're lying," Ella said disapprovingly. "Face it, Max wouldn't want you coming after her if she knew you were going to be hurting yourself."

"_You don't know what Max would think!_" Fang nearly shouted at her. "I said I'm fine. Let's _go_."

"Fang, will you just _listen to me?_" Ella yelled back, "I don't want you to be flying around while you're not ready to! I can't fly, and Iggy can't see, so if you died because of your injuries, he and I would be sitting ducks. Now whether or not Max is pregnant will not decide whether we can save her, and what's important now is that you don't die!"

He had so many things written in his eyes which could only have been de-coded by his best friend. Fang turned quickly and buried his fist in the three trunk, effectively shredding every bit of skin on his bare knuckles. The boy stared at the blood erupting from the scrapes with a straight face and put his hand back to his side without saying a word. Actions always speak louder than words anyway, he'd read somewhere in a book. His flock watched him in a similar silence while a gentle spring breeze brushed through the branches of the foliage around them. It was still cold for early in the season, and they all knew pretty well that if they didn't get moving soon the temperatures could potentially drop during the night and they would be subject to hypothermia. Both the boys no longer had the luxury of shirts, and Fang didn't have any shoes on, either. In public, they could be spotted easily because their backs would be in full view of other people. Ella was the first to speak.

"We could walk, I guess," she suggested quietly, picking the backpack up off the ground where it sat next to the quenched fire. The sun was just beginning to rise on the edge of the horizon, sending streaks of light through the trees and giving them an orange glow. "I mean, we're all really good at stealing things. I could maybe nab a pack of shirts at the nearest superstore."

Iggy's pale skin was covered in goosebumps and she tried not to look too much at his bare torso, averting her eyes and picking at a scab on her arm. "That sounds alright," the blind one agreed, crossing his own. "C'mon, Fang, you lead the way. You're the only one who's been out of here," he gestured to the woods around him that he couldn't see.

Fang wearily nodded his head, his jaw clenching as he held a hand to his side and began walking downhill. Sometimes, he and Max would come out this way instead of flying so that they would be able to talk more, even though it took more time. It was about a two or three hour hike from their cabin to where the nearest town was. Fang just knew that if you found the stream leading down from the lake, you could follow it all the way down to the main road, which, granted, was dirt, but at least they had known it lead somewhere. The other two didn't know, but he and Max _had _prepared for a situation where they would need to leave on foot, so they had made a path with slashed trunks so they knew where to go if they had to. It's common survival knowledge that moss always grows on the north side of rocks, and in the dark, that could be their pillar of fire in the bleakness.

About an hour into their walk, Fang asked Iggy if he could bandage his left arm to his waist to keep it from jarring while he stumbled over roots, and so they stopped and Iggy took out yet another bandage to bind him up. Fang hoped to God that the Erasers weren't still following them, because if they were attacked now, it wouldn't be a very positive outcome. While they trudged on, he kept checking over his shoulder in a very paranoid way knowing for certain each time he'd see a tuff of hair behind a tree or claws coming around from the backside of the bark, but he never did. Iggy, head continually swiveled from one side to another as he heard the movements of forest animals and worried about what they might be. He'd never felt so helpless and naked in his life. They were out her in the open forest without protection, and he was blind. He envied Ella, that she could be so close-minded and confident, even in situations like this one.

They just had to keep walking. They had no idea where they were going, but knew that anywhere away from the demolished house was closer to the solution they so desperately sought. The couldn't give up hope, and they couldn't stop trying.

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry," she apologized to a man that she bumped into while trying to pass him in the clothing aisle. El had never been in a store this big before, and had only just figured out where to find packaged shirts for kids Fang and Iggy's sizes. Why did people need this many things? There were snacks and devices she'd never even heard of being displayed on shelves in every direction, and she couldn't figure out why anyone would buy all of them. And what the hell was a Swiffer?<p>

There were only a few things that they needed, and she was pretty confident that she could smuggle items out of the store without being caught. El cast looks at mothers with their children shopping for cereal, and fathers buying auto-parts with their sons with a pang of sadness. She missed Valencia, the woman she had called "Mom", and not a day went by that she hoped and prayed that she would be okay…wherever she was.

Finally, in her view was a couple of Hanes packages of male's underwear and plain white T's, so she looked around her at the clothing racks and prepared herself for what she was about to do. El waited until the fat guy with a beard finally decided there wasn't any sizes quite big enough for him in shorts and gave up before ripping a package of plain V-necks and crouching down next to the nearest rack to tear it them open. She unzipped her pants and tightly shoved them down on either side of her thighs so they tucked into her waistband from the inside.

She stood up, checked herself in the mirror, made a sly fox face, and then walked directly into a very much taller figure.

"Oh, sorry, excuse me!" a tall, dark teenage boy exclaimed, reaching out and catching her arm to steady her.

Startled and embarrassed, Ella looked up to meet his bright green eyes. "No, I'm sorry!" she squeaked. What was worse was that he was really cute. "Sorry, I'm just…yeah, I'm gonna go."

She blushed and tried to duck around the corner, but he caught her arm again and spun her around to face him. "Hey, I haven't seen you around before," he said with a smile on his angular face. "Are you from here?"

"Uh…" she said uncomfortably, almost dying with mortification. She flattened the shirts around her legs as subtly as she could and thought of a quick response. "…I…I…live just over in that direction…" El gestured in the general area of the restrooms. She gave a weak smile like that would further convince the boy.

_Who talks to girls in a Wal-Mart?_

He nodded his head enthusiastically. "Cool, cool…so…you go to Summit High School then, right?"

"Uh…yeah…" she drawled, frowning to herself. "I'm a sophomore," she cleared her throat. "But I'm new. I moved here last week."

"Really?" the boy asked conversationally. "That's so awesome. I'm a junior, so I'm just a year ahead of you. Have you been making any friends yet?"

"Not exactly," El lied smoothly. "I've been, um," she coughed twice, "sick. But I'm getting better now."

He smirked adorably. He had really straight teeth. "That's a surprise. I mean, you're really pretty."

She blushed again, looking down at her shoes and wishing she wasn't so dirty. "Thank you."

"Well, I guess, _now_ you've made a friend," he laughed, sticking out his hand like she supposed normal people did in normal situations. "I'm Greg," he introduced himself.

She took it, trying to be confident as she thought of a way to use this situation to her advantage. "Er, McKenna," she said.

He straightened his flat-billed hat on his head. "Well, it's nice to meet you, McKenna."

"You too..."

And then suddenly, and idea hit her. She spastically reached out and grabbed the nearest package of white T's. "Hey, you want to walk with me while I get the rest of my things?" she asked him. "I'm here getting some stuff for my, erm, brother 'cause he left some clothes at my mom's house in Dover."

"Dover?"

It occurred her that she didn't even have the slightest idea where that was.

"…Yeah, that's right. My parents are divorced and my mom lives there."

"You lived in the UK? That's so awesome!"

Oh, good, now she had no idea what the "Yukaye" was, but she smiled at him convincingly and said, "Yeah, it was really nice there."

"I'm surprised you don't have an accent. Do you want me to get a cart for you? My dad's been looking at paint colors and car stuff for about fifteen minutes, and I'm expecting it to be another hour or so."

_An accent?_ "…Yeah, me too. And, yeah, that'd be great, thanks. I'd kind of like some company since, you know, I have no friends."

He chivalrously jacked someone's cart while they were looking at frozen food, and the two of them made off with it. "So, what type of things do you need to get?" he asked her.

She dragged behind a bit so that it looked like she was looking at breads while she was actually sneaking a look at his back pocket to make sure he had a wallet. He did. Perfect…

"Um…I think we need some iodine, anti-inflammatory drugs, hydrogen peroxide, and gauze. And an ace bandage. For my brother, I mean, he's into…football."

Greg laughed while leaning heavily on the cart and catching her eye, "So does he suck or something?"

Ella thought of Iggy and gave a wry grin. "Yeah. He's _terrible_. I'm surprised they don't kick him off the team. Oh! And we need to get him shoes. He melted the rubber on the soles while skateboarding, so we can just get him some cheap ones. Probably black."

"Okay."

Surprisingly, it was really easy to talk to this Greg kid, even if everything Ella was saying was really a lie. They went all around the store getting the things she needed until they had gathered everything and proceeded to the checkout. Time to act.

"_Shit!_" Ella felt her pockets frantically, and then looked up at Greg, who was watching her with a concerned look on his face. "Where is it?"

"What? What's wrong?"

She felt around more, suddenly reminding herself with a pat to the thigh that she still had shirts down her pants. "Ugh, my dad's going to _kill _me! He gave me a bunch of money for Carter's stuff and I think I dropped it."

Her eyes began to feel wet with fake tears, and she wiped her nose with the arm she knew still had a very large bruise on it from fighting the Erasers. Greg's eyes widened with realization and he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Hey, McKenna, it's okay, let me get it for you…"

He fished the wallet out of his back pocket and pulled out a twenty and a five. "Here, take it. I don't need it, I have a job."

She sniffed convincingly and watched him with wide eyes. "No, I can't, Greg…I can't take that –"

And like she knew he would, he took her hand in his and placed the money in compassionately. "Please, I want you to have it."

The boy was looking at her bruises again, and looking disgusted at the man who he thought did it – her fictional dad. Greg offered her his handkerchief too, and even checked the items out for her at the self-checkout himself.

She thanked him profusely, telling him things like that he didn't have to do that for her and stuff, and he just let it blow over him. When they parted outside, he touched her cheek with his thumb and said, "If you need to talk to me, about anything, just know that you can. I can help you."

El nodded, and he smiled at her as he turned to go. "I'll see you around, then…McKenna?"

"Yeah, maybe we could have lunch at school together or something?"

"Yeah! That sounds like a good idea," Greg grinned. A large pickup truck pulled up next to him and he opened the door. "Bye!"

"Bye!"

He drove away, and she almost felt bad for playing him. He was such a nice guy. But then she thought of a certain other boy that she thought she might like better – and he was even kinder than Greg was.

_Oh well,_ she thought, holding the white plastic bags in her hands and walking off in the direction she'd left the flock in. Iggy and Fang were behind the store sitting next to a trash dumpster, both looking way beyond tired in the fading light of the afternoon. It almost looked like Fang had dozed a bit before Iggy tapped him on the shoulder when he could hear footsteps approaching. He'd recognize that pace pattern anywhere, but it seemed she was carrying lots of goods.

"Been shopping, little girl?" he called in his best creeper voice. "Want some candy?"

Fang had the urge to hit him, but decided against it when his motion was met with the restraint of the Ace bandage he'd asked Iggy to put across his midsection earlier that day. He was starting to feel rotten again, and his wounds were more than tender to the touch. He was a little worried for when the bandages would come off again and they would be able see the conditions of his injuries. Iggy had assured him that they wouldn't get infected on his watch, but Fang couldn't be so sure. There was such thing as blood poisoning, and it didn't exactly sound like a vacation.

El gave Iggy a very strange look and turned her concerned attention on Fang, who was looking pale and rather weak. She gave him a sad smile and instructed the two to get up and follow her into the nearby stretch of alpine woods, where Fang collapsed next to a tree and Iggy ripped open the bandages to where he found something he was not expecting. Everything had healed, leaving the scars a light pink, but red veins protruded darkly from them, looking dangerous and deadly.

And Fang was writhing in unspeakable pain.

* * *

><p><strong>WHAT THE F IS HAPPENING TO FANG? <strong>

**Okay, so there were two things that my best friend, Ashley, and I did today: We made THESE COOKIES, and walked my fat daschound, who has her own cause on Facebook you should like. It's "The Cause to Love Sabine", and you should contribute to it because my poor dog does not get enough love! Write her a love poem or something and PM me if you don't have enough to do during break, and I will not only post the best one here, but on the page. **

**Now, make these cookies: **

**- 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats**

**-1/3 cup flour**

**- 1 tsp. baking soda**

**- 1 tsp. baking powder**

**-1/2 tsp. salt**

**- 1 cup brown sugar**

**- 1 cup normal sugar**

**- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter**

**- 1/2 cup peanut butter**

**- 2 eggs**

**- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract (or Mexican vanilla 'cause it is the BOMB DOT COM)**

**- 2 cups chocolate chips**

**Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put dry ingredients in a separate bowl and mix. Put sugars, butter, and peanut butter in mixing bowl and mix until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Add then oat mixture, and chocolate chips. Stick 'em on a cooking sheet and stick those babies in the oven for 13 to 15 minutes. Let them cool before you devour them with milk because they will burn your face beyond recognition. Do not burn the house down. **

**If you're on Spring Break, do yourself a favor and make these cookies. Your dreams will come true. **

**Please review!**


	8. A Glorious Selection of Lowfat Yogurts

**Real quick - I GOT MY DRIVER'S LICENSE! I am now a licensed driver, and I passed my test with flying colors. **

**Yeah, so if you're ever in Denver...stay off the sidewalks. **

**It was funny when I took my driving test the first time, I pretty much broke every law that you could and messed up in every scenario. He said to turn the left blinker on, I turned the windshield wipers on. I was like, _oh shit_. I went over all the crosswalks, didn't come to a complete stop every time at the stop signs and count to three, made three illegal turns...and parked badly. Which is ironic, because I'm actually a really good driver, I just get nervous. And when I'm nervous, shit goes down. But this time, the guy said I did one hundred and ten percent better - so I'm happy :) NOW I CAN DRIVE EVERYWHERE AND NOBODY CAN STOP ME HAHAHAHA. **

**Yeah. **

**Anyway, I'm very sorry I wasn't able to update sooner. Life was kind of coming at me fast, and I didn't have the time nor the attitude in me to write. Which is interesting, because writing if often an attitude thing - you're either in the mood or you're not. So, yeah, I'm sorry about that! The parts with Max are pretty hard to write, so forgive me. **

* * *

><p>Max awoke two days later with a stinging in her arm that she didn't recognize or was familiar with. The room was still lit, but she had been passed out so completely she was worried of what might have been done to her in her slumber. She believed the whitecoats had finally figured out that it was way easier for them to do things to her while she was sleeping rather than when she was awake. Kind of like a wild animal at the zoo who needed to be put out to be given vaccinations.<p>

When her eyes finally focused on the blurry objects around her, she looked at the arm and examined the part that was hurting her. That was when she saw it – a black bar code tattoo had been permanently applied to her skin, sporting her experiment identification number and a series of straight lines. Her skin felt like someone had stuck a bunch of needles into her and then poured vinegar over the entry sight.

_Well, that was good_ – how was she supposed to cover this up once Fang and the others came to get her? She had always had a hope for a better life outside of this existence she could so easily parallel to the chasms of burning infernos, but was starting to get the idea that she would never get out, and never be free again. She was the one experiment who was on maximum security surroundings, and had several guards and security cameras trained on her. She just couldn't see a way out of this, and that _really_ ticked her off.

She waited again for a very long time before starting to feel very sick. The room was starting to spin, and the antiseptic smell that constantly leeched its way into everything was starting to make her gag reflex spasm. Her head, too, began to pain her as she lay on her back trying not to reel. She closed her eyes tightly and put her hands over them, just so she felt like she was in the dark again. She wished they would turn them off. She hated them.

After what seemed like a sickening eternity, she finally lost it and vomited over the side of the bed, and it splattered on the floor in all directions. She heaved until all the contents of her stomach were gone, and she was left dry and pained as her body was wracked with agony.

Her eyes blurred, but she observed the mess she had just made on the floor and thought to herself that she must have been given radioactive poisoning again – just like that time they were trying to trace the path of the airway system in her body. She had spent so much time in this same position, and the vomiting never ended for weeks, until the whitecoats were finally satisfied with what information they had obtained from her, and consequently stopped the treatment. Though in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but think of the more probable reason why she was feeling this way, and quickly shut it down. She refused to acknowledge it, because it simply was just not going to happen. Fang would come and rescue her, she was sure of it. Max knew him too well, and trusted him too much to accept that he was dead, and knew he would do whatever it would take to find his way back to her. All she had to do was wait, and struggle the most she could.

Instead of dwelling on her supposed situation, she fixed her attention on the security camera in the corner of her white-washed cell. The fluorescent bright lighting made her eyes burn, and against all of the lack of color, she found it in herself to locate the little red bead of light which signified recording. Smirking inwardly, she pretended to heave a little more, and then flop down on the bed and held her breath, so it looked like she had just died. That would give them a scare. A few minutes later, the Eraser, Ari, had unlocked the door quickly and crossed the white room to take her pulse. She looked at him weakly when his warm fingers touched the skin on her neck, and she caught his yellow eyes with hers. For some reason, the expression on his wolfish human face changed a bit and softened. But only for a second, and then his hardened professional countenance resumed.

Ari had turned to walk away, but on its own volition, her hand reached out and caught his. Weakened, she could do nothing more than hold it and take in his startled face.

Familiar, so familiar.

_It couldn't be. _

He seemed to realize the same thing she did, and jerked his hand away from her, returning it to its casual hold on the in his belt. His yellow eyes never left hers until he had disappeared from the window of the door and was gone again. _It couldn't be. _

She dwelled on the thought in her mind until she again felt the urge in her gut to vomit again, and then the smells of the Institute overwhelmed her. It came through the air vent above her and she frowned at it as she lay on her back, heaving what could only be stomach acid. It trickled down her cheek and she hardened her mind again. She would not pity herself, and she would not fall victim to the sick psychological trips they were pulling on her. Ari. Fang. The house. _Forever_, she would refuse to believe them, and she would stay strong even while her body continued to deteriorate, and if her suppositions were true, the frail life beginning inside of her started to thrive, though she didn't even know if it was there.

_Just a game, it was all a game._

She made a promise to herself right then and there: If it was the last thing she did, she would kill Dr. Gunther-Haagan, and would personally slit the throat of ter Borcht. She would make them pay for these years of misery, and she would tear down the Institute brick by brick herself if she had to. Because all of this madness needed to stop and the countless lives of innocent children need not be spent in such a gruesome fashion.

* * *

><p>What she guessed was two hours later, more food was shoved through the mail slot in her door. The vomit still had not been cleaned up, but the more liquidous contents had trickled down into the drain which resided in the middle of the crude concrete floor. She again examined the barcode on her arm, sighed heavily, and then decided to answer the demands of her groaning belly. The food was the same as the other day – nutritional paste in a tube (though it was now oatmeal flavored), and a dry roll of bread. No water.<p>

_Better than nothing_.

She couldn't help but notice that there were no prenatal vitamins or anything of that sort, so her spirits lifted an ounce. Surely they would not starve her if she was carrying a child, would they? She supposed it wouldn't be beneath them, because almost nothing seemed to be. They were sick demons, they were, but maybe not as low as she had thought. While she ripped the lid of the paste off, she began trying to formulate some sort of escape plan. She nonchalantly scanned the room as not to alert those looking through the security camera. There was an air vent, but it didn't seem big enough for her to fit through. A bite of biscuit. The locks on the door were only opened with a retina scan, identity card, and PIN number. She didn't have either of those, and her eyes were, well, _hers_. If Max was to scan her own, most likely the whole of security would be all over her in three seconds flat before she could even make it to the end of the hallway.

_Bombs._

The thought hit her brilliantly. But where was she to get a bomb? She didn't have the supplies, and the security cameras would catch her in the act of making one. Maybe Iggy would bring some when they came to rescue her. She didn't know. It was possible. Though she really didn't like the idea of being forced into the act of damseling.

When she was finished with her food, she pushed the tube of paste back through the door and sat next to the wall. With her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms folded over them, she rested her head and fell asleep. In her dreams, again, she saw the flock dying, Lou's face, and the worst of all, she dreamed of a demonized Ari murdering Fang right before her eyes. And she could do nothing about it but scream.

* * *

><p>The next thing she knew, the door had burst open abruptly by a two person team, whom she had guessed by now had assumed the position of torturing her just for the sheer satisfaction of the ordeal. Ter Borcht had a syringe filled with a strange, clear liquid, and was looking at her with black sociopathic eyes. He had an evil smile on his ugly face and said nothing while he cornered Max's weak frame in the corner. She tried to make herself as small as possible, lake a mouse with nowhere to go with a large cat closing in on it. Ari, the Eraser, followed close behind him and caught Max about the arms while she writhed to escape from his iron grasp. There was something in those eyes, though, that suggested he wasn't in his right mind at the moment. Maybe he was drugged, too.<p>

But it was no use against his brute strength at this point, and the needle was wordlessly plunged into the arm where the tattoo resided upon and she was left laying in a haphazard paralytic position on the floor. "All jours."

Max could see, and she could feel all of what came next, and the next few minutes were ones she would never forget for the rest of her miserable existence. When the Eraser was finished with his assignment, he zipped up his trousers and ter Borcht spat upon her tear-stained face, laughing a few times and saying something in what she assumed was French that she could hardly make out through her sobs. That was all, and then they were gone.

She was covered in her own blood and still numb from the waist down while she attempted to sit up straight. None of the experiments and treatments she had endured ever compared to the agony and humiliation she felt right at that moment. Her pelvic region pained her almost mockingly and she wanted nothing more than to carve all of the things she had just endured from her mind. She felt filthy and the smell of the Eraser drenched every inch of her skin, making her sob even harder.

She curled up on her side and the lights around her shut off for the first time since she had gotten there. She fell asleep in a pool of her own blood.

_He was drugged_, she tried to comfort herself, _he didn't know what he was doing._

* * *

><p>Miles away, the situation with Fang could hardly be any better. Helpless, Ella had helped Iggy drag his limp body farther from the shopping center and they used cool moss to dab at his forehead, hoping he would wake up. That <em>they <em>would wake up. That this would all just be a bad dream and they were all go back in the morning to their own beds, drink cheap coffee, and eat outdated, stale cereal. They had taken everything for granted, El realized now, and she was so painfully aware of how great the enemy they faced was. If they could break Fang like this, _to this point_, they could probably do anything.

Grim-faced, she and Iggy sat ashen next to the limp body of their friend. Ella was praying, even though she had never done it before and wasn't really sure who to pray to. God, she guessed.

Iggy's sightless eyes were closed, and he checked Fang's pulse almost obsessively. It was dark again, and Ella finally started to give up hope. They'd lost Max, and now they were going to lose Fang. Where would they even take his body?_ Surely not a cemetery and we don't have any money for a headstone anyhow._

She held one of Fang's hands tightly in his, holding on to what little shred of sanity she still had left after all of this. Maybe he would squeeze her hand when he came to, like what always seemed to happen in movies.

There was a full moon in the sky that night, and the light reflected off of its surface blanketed the forest with a thin fabric of shadow as the trees ripped through the seams of the luminosity. The stars twinkled brightly. They were the same array of lights which had lit the sky one night ago while the cabin had been burned to a black crisp.

"I'll take first watch," Iggy's low voice penetrated the silence which had fallen between them.

El nodded solemnly, "Okay."

She looked at him for a long moment. He was now wearing one of the V-necks she had stolen from the store and his hair was all ruffled. He stared unblinkingly forward, and she could tell by his expression he was thinking very hard about something. And something that he wasn't so happy about.

She sighed heavily and picked herself up to position herself next to him with her back to the tree. She took his hand like both she and Max were accustomed to, because he couldn't read facial expressions at all, then lay her head on his strong shoulder. "What are you thinking about?" she asked him quietly, her feelings for him set aside completely.

"Lots of things," he murmured vaguely.

"Like what?"

"Well – like, Max…and Fang. You."

The last word echoed in her mind. She nodded understandingly into his shoulder. He pulled her closer to him and kissed her head. Not entirely out of romantic feelings, but to a more brotherly effect. "It'll be okay," he promised quietly, putting his arms around her tightly. "I'll make sure of that. I won't let anything happen to you."

And right then, at that moment, she really felt like nothing would. Nothing could touch her. "Okay."

She awoke the next morning positioned between Iggy's legs as he was propped up next to the tree. His arms were still around her, her head on his chest, and his eyes were closed as well. His deep breathing told her that he, too, had fallen asleep. Across the small camp from her and him, Fang was awake, unharmed and looking as normal as he had ever been. Dirtier, maybe, but alive, and absentmindedly carving something out of a chip of wood with his pocketknife.

"Fang!" she exclaimed, caused Iggy's eyes to snap open and realize what position he and El were in.

Fang's eyes smiled and he nodded towards them. "Sleep well, you two?"

She practically leapt out of Iggy's lap and onto her feet. She quickly changed the subject. "You-you're okay! I mean, you're not dead!"

He frowned, rubbing his eyes. "Uh, yeah, about that…how long was I out?"

"Just overnight," Iggy chimed in, embarrassment clinging to his voice like static electricity. "We, uh, me and El dragged you a ways from Wal-Mart and…wait, how are you okay?"

Fang got to his feet and inspected himself in a nearby puddle. He was touching the area on his shoulder that should have been completely infected by now. His stomach, as well, looked like it no longer needed stitches. In fact, the stitches that Iggy had put in his side looked like they were imbedded into his skin by now because it had healed like that. His eyes were wide in amazement – he was healed. Everything, it was healed. Even the long cut that had been drawn down the side of his jaw was nothing more than a faint scar.

He turned around, staring at the two in disbelief. "How did this happen?"

Neither Ella nor Iggy said a thing.

Fang was looking at the palms of his hands. Slowly, as if seriously thinking this over, he pulled out his pocketknife again and drew it across his outstretched left hand. He gave a startled growl of surprise as the same sort of pain, less concentrated, began to literally put the skin itself back together in front of his eyes.

"You have, like, _super healing_," Ella breathed.

Iggy was staring ahead, which was not abnormal for him, but he wasn't moving the least bit.

Fang was still biting the inside of his lip from the pain it caused to heal, but he managed a smile. A real smile.

"Let's find food," he said. "We can find food, and then formulate a plan to rescue Max."

Iggy smirked. "_Formulate?_ That's a big word for you."

It was all Fang could do at the moment not to take a running leap and pummel the bastard, but he managed to restrain himself. The sun was still rising in the horizon, and he took a deep breath, hoping that somehow Max would be okay today. Because it was going to be a long time before they would be able to find her. Why hadn't he defended her more aggressively when the Erasers showed up? He was starting to fall into a spiral of downcast thinking, as he usually did when something was going wrong. Max was always the one to pick him up again and set him back on his feet. It's what she had always done for all of them.

Ella got up and put her arms around Fang's waist. He wasn't a huggy person, so he just stood there awkwardly and kind of patted her back a little. "Try not to think too hard about her," she advised, "We're all worried, I know, especially you,but right now, we need to fuel up. C'mon."

* * *

><p>Hiding behind a dirty dumpster that smelled like a mixture of old people and rotten oranges, Iggy whispered in El's ear, "Hey, how come you didn't get that Greg kid to buy you some Pringles or something?"<p>

"Shut up."

"_What good are you?_"

"We're stealing hot dogs! I had a plan!"

"Not a good one," Fang said.

She punched him hard in the shoulder, enough so he winced while the bruise instantaneously began to heal thanks to his new power. "You're the ninja, you can't have second thoughts."

"I'm just saying, I don't feel good about this."

El was pretty sure her shoe was stuck to some gum on the sidewalk of the alleyway, and the smell of garbage was starting to make her sick. Her hungry stomach churned while the wafts coming from the nearby hotdog stand tickled her nose.

Behind her, Fang belly was also beginning to make noises. "We could find a homeless shelter," he said. "They serve food to those who need it...I saw one a while back."

With only her hunger in mind, she snapped at him, "A _homeless shelter__?_"

"There was one when we entered town. It was called 'Christ's Body'_._"

Iggy made a face. "That's weird."

"What's weird?" Ella asked. "The fact Fang wants us to eat with smelly homeless people, or that the place is named after someone's body?"

"El, we _are_ smelly homeless people," Fang corrected her with patience. "And it's not just anyone's - it's Jesus'."

_Right, okay._

Huffing, Ella looked back at the hot dog stand. She supposed the Mexican guy working there probably had a family to feed at home, and she and the others couldn't afford to be sent to jail or something like that. Also, she couldn't understand how Max always put up with Fang so well – he could get a little overbearing. All those philosophy books...sheesh.

She reluctantly agreed, and twenty minutes later, they were standing in front of the steep staircase that apparently led up to where people who had no money were able to get meals. Iggy instructed them to muss up their hair so they looked more like orphans or something pathetic like that, which she and Fang both thought was stupid. A sign read the name to where the two words overlapped to form the image of a cross. Ella was never really into any sort of religion, but she did like to think that there might be a God out there looking out for them. If there _was _a God, he would try and help them, right? That's what Gods did, right?

She frowned at the dirty shit-encrusted steps of the place while Fang ascended the stairs in front of her and Iggy. She was beginning to feel trapped, just like they all did in small spaces. She never experienced the terror of being locked into a cage for days on end, but something inside of her like a trapped bird residing behind metal bars never failed to get her heart racing. Iggy was lightly holding a bit of fabric from the back of Fang's shirt while they stepped into an area that smelled like...well, heaven. Her stomach complained as her eyes landed on a long line of scruffy-looking men, but her mouth watered at what she saw next: tater-tot casserole.

"Oh my _God_," Iggy breathed, taking in the scent. "It smells like a mixture of feet and ground beef…that's…that's…"

Fang shot him a sideways glance, "Mildly concerning," he finished.

Before Ella even knew what she was doing, she had fallen into the line and grabbed a paper plate like the rest of the people had. Her feet on their own accord walked forward, and the boys followed suit. There were kids their age behind tables handing out rolls and scooping casserole onto their plates, to which Ella blushed, ashamed. A girl with blonde hair and blue eyes smiled at her as she handed El a blueberry muffin, and El muttered her reply while she waited for Fang and Iggy to get all the way through.

Fang protectively stepped in front of El while scanning the crowd to find a place on the cheap picnic tables. There was everyone from schizophrenics talking to themselves to black men with only one ear, to old ladies missing and eye and quite a few teeth. To El's left, she heard a man babbling, "We have a glorious selection of low-fat yogurts."

She pulled a face. If that wasn't concerning, she didn't know what was.

Eventually, some fat people got up to get seconds without leaving anything to save their seats, so the three of the flock quickly bustled over and fell on their food like wolves. El had never been this hungry _ever_, and though the food she was eating wasn't exactly exemplary, it seemed like the best thing she had probably ever consumed in her entire life. Iggy was a picky eater because of his heightened senses, but even he wasn't complaining. In fact, he had lowered his face down to the plate and resorted to shoving the food right into his mouth with the fork. Fang was being as normal as normal gets, employing both fork and knife while he visibly savored each bite.

"We have a glorious selection of low-fat yogurts," the man said again a few seats down. "A glorious..."

They exchanged wary glances.

"Well, the taters were a bit soggy," Iggy observed finally, his plate completely scraped clean, "but overall, not terrible. How many helpings do you think we could get our mitts on?"

El turned around to look back at the line, which was again filled with the same array of creepy-looking men and women. They almost looked like their clothes had been pulled from the dumpsters out back, which now she realized, they probably had. On the walls, she then saw, there was a sign which advertised a consignment store within the shelter. She supposed this could be helpful.

"Need some dog food, guys?" Fang asked quietly, gesturing with his head to some dude eating kibbles from a bowl farther down on their table. He looked up at them and grinned, making Ella's food make a sudden appearance near the bottom of her esophagus.

She forced it back down and shook her head, looking down at her empty plate. "Okay, this place is _beyond_ creepy."

"I'll say," Fang agreed. "Let's scram."

"Not yet!"

It was then El realized that people were actually watching _them_, and she came to this revelation: kids never came in here. There were no other kids their age, except for the ones serving food, for which she assumed could only be for community service. "I think we're being watched," she breathed under her breath.

Fang slowly looked from the right to the left, his jaw hardening. "Play it cool."

"We need a story," Ig suggested. "All of us are adopted – mom and dad died in a car accident last night."

Ella's face pulled a twitch. "Um, no, because we would be at our godparents' house."

"What the hell are godparents?" Fang asked critically.

"They take care of you if something happens to your real parents. No, we'll say that we're all siblings from the same mom, but she's a drug addict and abandoned us last month. We're on our own."

Iggy looked in the general direction of Fang with raised eyebrows. "That actually sounds plausible. Ella, you're a genius."

She bounced the plastic fork she had used in her right hand and breathed evenly, suddenly realizing how tired she was. Today had been a very long day. If this was a shelter, would they by any chance have somewhere they could stay? Or somewhere they could receive some help – like a bus ticket or something? She didn't want to have to make one of the boys carry her anywhere while flying. It could strain them too much and result in exhaustion.

"I want to lodge," she told Fang, looking at him. "I think that Max would want us to save our energy and stay alive. Don't you think?"

He put an elbow on the table. "I agree, but_ I_ don't want to save us energy. We need to get going – and fast. The longer we delay, the more chance they'll have to do something to Max."

"I agree with the emotionless brick," Iggy echoed.

Ella's shoulders drooped a bit and she bit the prongs of the fork absentmindedly. "I can't fly, guys. It's going to slow us down if we try and go that way. We could take a bus or hitch-hike or something."

"Um, _no_," Iggy put a hand over hers, "Listen to me," he told her. "We're not going to leave you behind on any circumstances. Fang and I can carry you – it'll be fine. Don't worry about it."

At his touch, her cheeks assumed a reddish color, and she was glad for once that he couldn't see her emotions on her face. She was afraid to fly. To be honest, she was afraid of heights, and afraid to be dropped. Because, would that not be terrifying? Being dropped from a high altitude and falling a zillion feet to the ground?

Somehow Fang understood the thoughts processing behind those brown eyes of her. "I promise you, El," he told her, getting that fatherly tone in his deep voice like he had whenever she felt down. Fang was always the one who could lift you up if you were feeling useless – and Ella felt useless seventy-nine percent of the time. "Ig and I are going to make sure nothing happens to you. You're coming whether you like it or not, and we're going after Max. If you don't want to come – fine, but we're going nonetheless."

She blinked at his sudden outburst of vocabulary. It was like someone had just beat her with the English dictionary.

"What do you say, honey badger?" Iggy's arms encircled her and he kissed her cheek. "Let's kick some ass."

* * *

><p><strong>BAM. This is the longest chapter I've written, I'll have you know. Eight pages in Microsoft Word is a lot for me because I like to update every week if I can and I have, like, zero time to do anything. One would think being homeschooled would offer me all the time in the world to pull my crap together, but you know, life gets in the way. <strong>

**In other news, I got a gig singing on Wednesday! I have to sing one Christian song and one secular song, so that should be interesting...guitarwise and all. Wish me luck!**

**I have a question for all of you: Where is your favorite place to spend time either doing homework or something else, like writing? I like coffee shops and being hyped up on sugar with my laptop at hand. The atmosphere is amazing. I'm currently at Crowfoot Valley Coffee, and I've been here for about three hours with my college sister. I helped her edit a paper about A Thousand and One Nights, which is apparently really scandalous. Dear goodness.**

**Also, did anyone catch the Des and Nate reference? **

**Anyway, I'd really appreciate it if you reviewed! Should Max get pregnant? I want an opinion. Baby daddy? I dunno. Review :D **

**Oh, also, Happy Easter and Good Friday :)**

**~Steph**


	9. Those Eyes

**Greetings, lovely people :) I'd like to first and foremost thank my reviewers this week, _FlyonFan14 _(the Keeper of the Whisk), _CallMeSoldier_ (unMaximum Ride ;), _The Wolf Who Walks Alone_ (who is the definition and embodiment of the word "awesome"), _JealousMindsThinkAlike _(ever-faithful reviewer), _Pancakes-For-You_ (completely amazing and pretty fantastic), _A Sheep _(bah. bah bah bah baaaah!), and _Miss Mushroom_ (****whom I couldn't respond to, but I would like to tell her, yes, I am a fan of Mexicans! I've worked at a Mexican restaurant for the last two years and they're my buds). **

**You all rock. All of you. Thank you for reviewing!**

**So, I have sort of a humerus story from yesterday, when I was trying to take my ACT test. I have a mental illness called _Selective Sound Sensitivity Syndrome_, so the idea of being in a room full of other students in a silent situation terrifies me because I have the potential to, like, lose control of myself during a panic attack. The test started out pretty well. It was really weird because I left public school after being in it for, like, all my life after my freshman year, so there were a lot of people that I recognized, but who didn't recognize me. It was sort of cool, and it felt kind of like I was wearing a disguise. :D Anyway, the English was like, OMG, and then the math section was like, OMFG, and then the chemistry was more like, OMFGWTF? **

**Not so cool. **

**I was totally going to do the writing section because I'mactually_ good _at writing, but I got a panic attack from this girl that had a really bad cold, so I had to just walk out in the middle of the session in a sort of choked-up, embarrassed stupor. So I was really upset when I was driving home, and going five over the speed limit. Then this asshole in a nice car started tailing me. **

**So I went slower :)**

**And that was my sort of humerus yesterday. No, not humorous...humerus. *Hits elbow retardedly several times over***

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><p>Fang decided the next day that he was feeling well enough to try flying. He'd had another dream again, and this time, it was far more grizzly. He didn't know why he and Max had the connection that they did, and the reason he could see in his sleep the atrocities being committed against her. But he could, and he was not happy.<p>

It had happened after he, El, and Iggy split from the homeless shelter and crashed behind a local Costco inside a jungle of empty cardboard boxes. In the dream, he had felt pain, and lots of it. He felt like shouting and killing, but at the same time he couldn't. Everything he tried to say or do was muffled by some sort of foggy existence, holding his arms and legs down while he was assaulted. The experience was so terrible he didn't want to even try to explain it to El and Iggy, and so he didn't. He'd lied and said they were torturing her mercilessly, which, he acknowledged, they technically were. The two agreed to get moving without putting up any argument at all. So here they were, switching between binding Ella to themselves while they flew with several different belts and bindings. It was hard on the abdominal muscles, but wasn't really a problem because, well, he already _had_ a six pack. *

Because it was getting close to summertime, the mountains below them were a nice, rich shade of forest green. It was a beautiful sight, and one that Fang was thankful he had the privilege to enjoy; even if his childhood _had_ consisted of terrible experiments and endless suffering. Fang spit and watched his saliva drop way, way down as he soared up above the clouds. Despite the hot sun baking his white T-shirt onto his back with sweat, he was surprisingly cool. This was mostly due to the fact that clouds are actually wet and very much _not_ fluffy.

Iggy flew right behind Fang with Ella strapped to his midsection, their legs bound together to help with streamlining. Iggy was saying things to Ella, and she kept smiling in that sort of way that indicated something more was at work between them.

Fang shut that down hard. His jaw tightened and stomach clenched, and he instead fixed his attention on the ground passing slowly by below.

_Jealousy is both reasonable and belongs to reasonable men, _he recited in his head,_ while envy is base and belongs to the base, for the one makes himself get good things by jealousy, while the other does not allow his neighbor to have them through envy. **_

He couldn't believe how angry he was. Fang had never in his life been this angry – ever. The only thing he wished for was for Max to be there with them, and he wanted nobody else to touch her. He'd failed at his job as wingman. _Miserably_. It made his blood boil at the thought of her being stripped of her innocence by those sick, twisted monsters. Ari, no less. Ari had tried to kill him, and now he was going to kill Max. And she had _wept_. Fang could count on one hand how many times he had ever seen her cry. He had always thought that if anyone could undergo extreme pressure without cracking, it would be her.

_No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness._

His teeth were baring. He would kill them – all of them – with his bare hands if he had to. With his teeth, even. He would make them pay for what they were doing to Max, and he'd make them regret every long, painful minute of it.

_Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies._

"Yo, Fang?" Iggy called from behind him, breaking his concentration.

Fang looked enviously over his shoulder to where Iggy was starting to look a little worn out, but he didn't let his emotions show. He was stronger than that, and he knew it. He might even have a stronger mind than Max ever did, and his emotions were not for anyone else to see except for Max.

The beat of Iggy's wings was becoming more ragged as his energy began to wane, but he didn't ask for Fang to carry her instead, to his surprise. Iggy was probably enjoying it way more than he should, being Iggy. Because they were floating mid-air, it was difficult for the blind boy to figure out where to look in the direction of, but he managed, his eyes darting to a spot about a foot away from Fang's head.

"Are you holding up okay?" he asked, genuine concern sounding in his voice.

For whatever reason, this pissed Fang off a _lot_, that he would even _ask_ him what was going on inside of his head. That was none of his business.

"'M fine," Fang uttered sharply.

Iggy got the message. Fang also got the feeling that the other two might be hungry by this point, but he hardly cared, seeing as they had been in the air for about four hours without stopping to refuel. They needed to get to the Institute. Tomorrow, preferably. If they didn't get to her in time...she could die.

He wouldn't be able to live if he let that happen.

But, of course, the other two broke about an hour later when Iggy was starting to lose altitude because of his draining strength. They finally unanimously decided to land in a woody area where there wasn't a house in sight for a good three or four miles. Ella lifted her shirt to her stomach to where a dark purple bruise had started to form because of the belts. Iggy's hand went to touch it, and she let him while Fang looked away. He picked up a rock and threw it so hard it literally went out of sight. "So, do you need to rest, or what?" he asked angrily.

"Fang, calm down," El said.

He would _not_ calm down. They needed to get going. They needed to be somewhere else and go and get Max. She was the only thing in his head at that moment, and the only thing that had been in his head for the last few days. They didn't have time to eat, and they didn't have time to rest. They _had to get going. _

"Whatever," he muttered, an impassive look masked his face.

The backpack he'd been carrying had begun to get sore on his shoulders. There were a lot of canned goods in them that they'd jacked from the homeless place. He sort of felt bad from stealing from those in need, but…they were in need too.

He wordlessly shoved his hand in and threw a can of something, maybe ravioli, at El, which she caught like he knew she would. She wore on her face an expression that was conflicted, not knowing whether to lecture Fang or to feel sorry for him. They all missed Max, and she was sort of getting tired of the way he was carrying on. But she couldn't come to a conclusion, so she cracked the can open and handed it to Iggy, who began wolfing it down before Fang had even had a chance to throw another one to Ella.

Fang sat on the ground cross-legged and used a rock to punch a hole in a can of clam chowder. It didn't taste very good, but he wasn't complaining. They got fed much worse stuff when they'd been at the Institute. Ella, on the other hand, was having trouble just eating the cold mushroom soup straight from the can. It was all clammy with a sickening consistency, and she'd never had to sink this low into desperation to be forced to eat Campbell's without even the luxury of a spoon.

"So, do we have a plan?" Iggy asked finally, addressing an issue that Fang had also been trying to figure out on his own. "There's some crazy security out there."

Fang nodded. "I'm trying to come up with something," he said.

Their progress in flight was dreadfully slow, and the thought of more things being done to Max plagued his mind until he started to get a anxiety-attack. It seemed like all of them had somewhat of a side effect to being tortured and maneuvered all of their lives; and these were his. They were also triggered by certain noises, which were generally stupid and did not relate to one another – except from the ones that reminded him of his earlier years, of the Institute. When Fang worried about something, he would become so consumed with an idea that he would start to get sick. He got tunnel vision. His heart-rate quickened. His breathing became shallow. He couldn't think.

This, of course, made it difficult to fly with, like, a dead weight called _Ella_ strapped to one's midsection, and ironically, she was the only one in the flock that didn't know about them. While he was busy, like, trying to remember to flap because he was losing his marbles, she was babbling on about fashion and glitter and stuff, not noticing his state of being at all. Iggy equated it to driving with a drunk driver, which, admittedly, none of them would have known about because they didn't drive.

Iggy noticed Fang starting to go because he could literally hear his friends' heart speeding up and his breathing hitch every flap and brushed the tips of his left wing to the ones of Fang's right. Fang's head turned and looked at him, and in that look, Iggy could tell that Fang needed some calming down.

He made motions to indicate Fang had to start doing some breathing exercises.

Fang flipped him off because he knew he couldn't see it.

* * *

><p>On the cold cement floor, Max was practically glued to the ground with her own blood and filth. Her pelvis still ached, and she had a nasty wound which made her head pound with a sharp, angry pain. She felt so woozy she could hardly lift herself enough to look around her once she came-to.<p>

The lights had finally been shut off, and she'd been left in the dark all alone now. A fresh wave of tears came to her eyes, which made her struggle to keep them under control. She wanted to go home, but by now she knew that there was no home to go back to. She kept hoping and praying to whatever God might be out there that her flock was safe somewhere and that they'd find a way back to her to rescue her from this. _She didn't want to give the Institute her children. _She never wanted to have kids, and now she was pretty sure they were all hell-bent on forcing her to pro-create.

What was worse was that she could be having an Eraser's child now.

At this thought, she let the tears fall silently down her cheeks. This was the lowest she had ever been. She finally decided to lay her head back down on the cold ground and close her eyes once again. In her tortured situation, it was her only escape, and in her dreams she could finally see Fang with her own two eyes.

* * *

><p><em>They lay on the deck of the cabin they used to share with Ella and Iggy, side by side with one of her feet overlapping his legs. Her head was on his shoulder and he breathed a contented sigh. In the distance, they could hear the other two fighting about something concerning dirty laundry, and he exchanged amused glances.<em>

_Fang said nothing, not uncommon for him, as he reached over and took one of Max's hands with one of his own, bringing it to his lips._

"_It'll all be okay, Max," he murmured, his voice soothing to her like waves crashing on the beach. "Someday, it'll be alright, and we won't have to live in hiding."_

"_You don't know that," she said, looking at his dark eyes. He was just the way he looked when she last saw him, but somehow, he looked even better than he did then. Older, maybe, handsome._

_He smiled that way that he only smiled around her and brushed his lips against her cheek. "But, you see Max…I know everything."_

_She felt then something that she had never felt with Fang before. It was a little more than their only being best friends. However, she did know that this must be a dream, because the grass around their cabin was never plain green – it was always some shade of brown. And when Fang leaned in to kiss her, she saw that his eyes were no longer that bottomless shade of comforting, chocolate brown. They were yellow – like the eyes of a wolf._

_That was when he growled and lunged for her throat._

* * *

><p>Max sprung from her slumber with a start, a shriek just barely muffled by placing her hand over her mouth before a sound could find its way through. She picked herself up out of the dried pool of her own blood and sick and slowly crawled to the hard mattress which had been placed right up next to the wall. The pain between her legs made her wince as she remembered the terrible events which had taken place just a while before. She wanted to go home, she wanted Fang.<p>

Everywhere she looked, she saw those eyes – those haunting devil eyes which had looked at her so lustfully not a few hours ago, pupils dilated as an effect of a drug.

A couple of hours later, she was awakened again by a more gentle hand to her shoulder. The fingers had gingerly brushed the bare skin of her arm, the part that wasn't being covered by the sparse hospital gown. They were soft and warm, things that she never would have expected to find in this cold, fluorescently-illuminated prison. She tried for a minute to open her eyes, but they were crusted shut by a mixture of her blood and tears. She moaned involuntarily, hating how pathetic she felt and how every part of her body objected every movement she tried to make. She tried again, and her weak and cloudy eyes rested upon what she immediately supposed must have been some sort of apparition.

Above her, she could see a tall figure of familiar stature. He was sort of dark, and had a sharp, angular face, and his hand was placid on her arm. His clothing was dark, and the hair upon his head was cropped short – G.I. style. His silhouette cast a dim shadow from the bright lights behind him as he stood, watching her silently. The kindness in this touch somehow made her feel like she wanted to cry again.

It _couldn't be_.

Max's dry voice shook while she barely summoned the energy through her intense thirst and general agony."Lou," was all she said.

She didn't understand. She'd watched Dr. Louis _die_. She and Fang had made the coffin they'd laid him to rest in, and together she and Fang dug the grave where his body should have been residing all this time. She'd seen his cold, pale face drain of life while she held his stiff, lifeless hand.

The figure said nothing, and just stood there. She wanted so badly for him to say something, to acknowledge who he was and confirm her desperate wish. But he said nothing. Instead he took one of her hands in both of his and began to sob. Why did he not bend down? Why did he not say anything?

He finally knelt next to her bed and hid his face with one of his arms, almost like he was ashamed. She didn't understand. Her cloudy eyes finally began to zero in on him, and she could finally begin to focus on the person on his knees before her. Mild excitement suddenly turned to fear, and her hope had transformed into bitter, painful disappointment. His hair wasn't red. His skin was the wrong color. And when he finally trusted himself to look into her eyes, she almost screamed, snatching her hand away from his like she had just been burned.

It was Ari.

"I'm sorry," he whispered through the streams of tears which traveled down his face, before she had the chance to scream. They stained his skin, which no longer was covered in wolfish hair. The back of his hand wiped his running nose. "I didn't–"

But he couldn't continue. Sobs wracked his large body and he sat down on the floor next to Max's bed, right in the middle of the mess he had made. She could see the cuts all over his wrists from what she assumed must have been self harm, and they were fresh.

Realization finally registered, and she tried hard to dismiss that her rapist was in her room. It was the strangest, most terrified emotion she had ever felt in her life. She didn't even want to touch him - to make him feel better - so she lay numbly on the bed staring at the ceiling while she listened to the young Eraser cry.

Max _wanted_ to feel something, but it wasn't in her. Blind hatred had bottled up inside of her body while she bit her lip, trying not to lash out on him in his weakness. He would be so easy to break now, and he'd probably let her do it, too. He had violated her and tortured her for nearly an hour, and now he had the audacity to come crawling back to ask for her forgiveness? What sick trick was this?

After what literally seemed like an eternity, Max finally trusted herself to speak.

"You're not Lou," she stated pointedly, as if that was the real reason she was so cross with him.

His sobs had become less in the last twenty minutes and he had resorted to staring straight ahead at the white wall in front of him with an overbearing frown on his face. He didn't understand what she meant, clearly, because he said nothing for a while.

"My name is Marius," he finally uttered quietly when he got control of himself.

_What?_

Max's head turned to the side to examine the creature before her. She noticed that in addition to his wrists, there were numerous scars covering almost every inch of his hard, muscles arms. Bruises, too, several of them. He had a black eye. His right ear was at the top. More healed wounds stretched out over his face as well. One went straight through his eyebrow and through where his eye socket was, and it reminded her of Scar from the Lion King.***

Her head turned back to its position and she again bit her lip to keep from lashing out.

"I'm sorry," Ari whispered again, his face was in his hands, wiping the salty tears from his face. It was a strange sight, seeing an Eraser cry. "I know you won't believe me...but they drugged me. It was all a game, a-a sick game...I-I don't even remember..."

"I don't believe you," she said through clenched teeth, her parched tongue like sandpaper against the roof of her mouth. Her jaw hardened, and her guard was up again. An impermeable brick wall.

His demon eyes closed once again. He said nothing more for the next few minutes while more tears ran down his cheeks. _Gee, for a complete monster, he sure has a lot of feelings._

"I'm sorry," he repeated, looking down at his shoes. His left hand ran over the cuts on his right arm almost tenderly, almost ashamed. "You know, I thought _you_ of all people…would understand."

Max looked up at the ceiling, so overcome with unwelcomed feelings that she could hardly think straight. Her body throbbed.

"Every day, they pump me full of…chemicals. I'm – I'm not w-who I am…I'm what they've _made_ of me. The…the chemicals – they make me crazy. I can't…I can't _think_," he paused, as if thinking it over before he admitted something to her. "I'm four years old."

Her mind began to take her somewhere else.

_She was six years old again, and they were experimenting on how her behavior would change due to certain injections and IV drips they hooked up to her. She lay in the small cage awkwardly while her limbs twitched uncontrollably. She had thoughts that were alien to her, and she didn't even have the sense to understand that she was under some sort of influence. Max daydreamed about killing things. She imagined herself standing over Fang's dead body with his neck twisted awkwardly to the side, and she felt nothing inside. It was sociopathic, and she didn't understand the power which she was under. She later that day started grabbing through the bars of the cage, trying to grasp anyone or anything that went past the cage. She wanted to kill…but as soon as the IV was disconnected and she was left alone, she had come to her senses. _

Her eyes closed. Max again felt Ari's eyes on her, pleading with her silently for forgiveness, or some recognition that she understood him, and she couldn't bring herself to look back. She couldn't get over what he had done. All sorts of images flashed through her mind regarding several experiments…until she found the one where she had killed another mutant with her bare hands.

It had been an accident, and she didn't even know what she had done until the action was over. The little boy had been sickly, granted, but the behavioral experimental drugs sent the signal to _kill, kill, kill_ so strongly that she could not resist. She had been nine.

_Ari was four._

Finally, her eyes slowly opened – red and bloodshot – and she turned her head to meet the monster's haunted eyes. "You're...I..."

Something between them had changed suddenly, from the attacker and the victim, only something they only could have come to neutrality about. They said nothing more for a while until someone shouted Ari's name and a buzzer went off on his watch. He looked blankly at it. Rising, he again took one of Max's hands, and this time, he brought it to his wolfy lips and kissed it.

His yellow eyes met hers and he held them.

"I'll get you out of here. I promise."

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><p><strong>* HOT.<strong>

**** Aristotle. All the quotes are Aristotle. **

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><p><strong>And, fin! I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, review and tell me what you did like! I apologize that this chapter lacks laughs, but I just couldn't find a place to put them. Sorry! They'll come, I promise. The humor will come back. As long is Iggy is in this story, there will be things to goof about. <strong>

**Okay, and here's something weird - my weather channel just told me that I need only two words to describe the weather in Colorado. Not mostly sunny, not mostly cloudy. _Mike Nelson_. Seriously? They want to market the weather man like he's some sort of iconic figure? Please. If I had a few words to describe it, it'd be Jesus Freaking Christ. Haters gonna hate. **

**Make sure to review! **

**~Steph**


	10. A Battle to Be Fought Alone

**I cannot even begin to tell you how busy my life has been the last two weeks, and will continue to be until the school year ends. Because, my goodness, at my homeschool/highschool, they do not give a flying buttress about how many projects other teachers have assigned over finals and such. Plus, I'm failing Chemistry, but that's nothing new. I've also been working hard nannying and being a hostess four days a week in addition to school, so things have been kind of hectic because I'm trying to afford a $1,000 trip that I have to pay for myself. **

**So, I'm sorry this chapter is a little belated. I might not be able to update for another two weeks until school ends, but I've been trying really hard to keep it coming! **

**In other news, I went to go see The Hunger Games again with my friend Lee and it was really fun! I'm so buying the movie when it comes out. The soundtrack is also really cool. I wrote a song inspired by SixBillionSecrets dot com and performed it for my Literature class for a project. If anyone wants, I could maybe post the lyrics in the next chapter. **

**Anyway, I'd like to thank all of my lovely and amazing reviewers this week: FlyOnFan14, JealousMindsThinkAlike, The Wolf Who Walks Alone, BlackVenom, Miss Mushroom **(_Necicitas ayuda con tu espanol? Puedo te ayuda si tengas preguntas. Espanol no es muy dificil si vas a practicar_ ;)**, Pancakes-For-You, and CallMeSoldier! I love you all so much! You all make writing worthwhile. The world could use more people like yourselves. If you send me good reviews, I'll make sure to message you back :)**

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><p>If anyone had found out what had happened between him and Max that night, that he had even shed a tear, it would certainly have been all over the Institute that their number one had gone soft. Because, on the outside, Marius was callous and terrifying. That was just it, though – that Ari wasn't him. That Ari was an effect of the drugs he was forced to take. They literally drew blood from his arm every night to test and make sure that he <em>was<em> popping the pills. And it he wasn't, he would be severely punished in some of the worst ways imaginable.

Ari felt different now. He was completely lucid at that moment, strolling through the large building complex like he owned it, and he was thinking, something he hadn't been able to do in a very long time. Usually, his mind was clogged with emotions decided upon by the medications he had to take, but now, it was clear as the surface of a tranquil lake. So now he was able to feel, he was pissed. In fact, "pissed" wouldn't even cover the emotions he was experiencing. He had been forced to take advantage of Max, and he had been so full of drugs that he hadn't even known he was doing it.

Ari was so focused on being angry that he didn't realize when ter Borcht stepped in front of him waving a clipboard – probably to knock him out of the daze his mind was being consumed by.

"Marius, ah jou alright?" the whitecoat asked him, though there was no feeling of concern in his dark, dead eyes.

Ari's yellow stare focused in on the doctor. His pupils dilated, like those of a wolf staring down its prey.

"Yes, sir," he found himself saying, automatically snapping back into military-like jargon, trying to be that cold-blooded killer the doctor was familiar with. The one he had created. "I was heading to the barracks to catch some sleep. Sir."

Ter Borcht checked the ugly old-man watch hooked around his wrist and frowned to himself, his triple double chin folding over itself, "Jes, but, wif all due respect, icht is seven en de mourning. Jou should be aht fairst meal."

_It was?_ Well, time sure flew fast. He concocted a quick lie.

"Poker ran overtime last night. Played a few extra rounds. It won't happen again, sir."

"Vat do jou trade?" ter Borcht asked, seeming confused and a little suspicious already as if he couldn't imagine the Erasers would huddle behind small tables with fistfuls of playing cards.

Ari didn't even think for a second. "Rations, sir," he said, and with a horrible sharp-toothed smile. "Occasionally digits."

That last part wasn't entirely a lie. He did know for a fact that a few of the other Erasers had lost fingers to over-confident bets. The others were stupid brickheads, in his opinion. They weren't genetically programmed to perform as flawlessly as he had been. Ari was one of their greatest successes, aside from Max, whom the Institute finally had back in custody.

This, he admitted bitterly, was probably why they were trying to breed him with her.

The overweight scientist watched Ari for a few more seconds before dismissing him to mealtime. Ari saluted him and kept on walking in the direction of the barracks until ter Borcht was completely out of sight. When he rounded a corner, he immediately began looking for weak spots in the ceiling where his large body might be able to crawl up into. He had seen in some of the few films he had watched in his life that people sometimes escaped prisons through the air vent system, but for whatever reason, to him, it didn't seem plausible. They could quite easily collapse under his weight. Plus, the Institute would probably have some security over that, seeing as most of the experiments _would_ try and escape if they ever had the chance.

He had to give Max that chance.

He also knew that he should probably find a map of the Institute's sewer system, or get copies of different guards' ID passes in order to smuggle himself and Max out of the high security detectors near the front doors. To his knowledge, there were no doors leading to the outside other than the main ones in all three of the buildings. There were also no windows anywhere except for the long paneled on stretching down the entire face of the middle building and the ones way too little for any living being to get through. It was little-known knowledge that the third building's security was by far the weakest. This was due to the general lack of experiments being held in that general area. And the third building was attached to the middle and first by a couple of different hallways. If they were going to get out, it would be best to try through there.

For the first time in Ari's life, he was excited about something. A genuine excitement not produced out of the influence of drugs. This would be _his chance_ to prove that the Itex didn't own him. They had created him, they had tortured him, they brainwashed him, and they were going to pay for it. Dearly. Maybe his escape could inspire the other experiments to revolt. There were enough of them that they could easily take control of the labs. They had abilities normal humans did not have. They could do it, they could.

His mind kept circling around all of these ideas while he strode through the hallways of the Institute, Building #2. Nobody was here this early in the morning, and they didn't have to report to their places until eight. That gave him an hour. His feet carried him across the cold linoleum towards the office he knew Dr. Gunther-Haagan resided in. He hoped the door wasn't locked and mentally kicked himself for not trying to find out earlier, because he probably could have found a key.

The darkly stained wood of the door was cool to the touch, as was the door handle he turned slightly before it gave him the indication it was not moving anywhere. He swore under his breath and desperately searched his pockets for anything he could use to break open the bolt. He had a long knife strapped under his pants to one of his shins, but that was it.

Frustrated, he punched the door as hard as he could, because that would be the more reasonable alternative to staying calm, feeling his blood pressure rising until he could see extra hair sprouting from his muscular arms and long. Razor sharp claws erect from his fingertips. Morphing used to hurt a lot when he was younger, but the pain had ceased to a certain extent since to where he just got all tingly. Sodden, his yellow predator eyes zeroed in on his huge, ugly hands.

Something inside of his head moved, and on instinct without even thinking, he raised one to touch the doorknob once again. He morphed back in surprise as the handle turned and opened without him even touching it.

Ari hardly had the humanity to think about how weird that was, but he stumbled into the Director's office on his awkwardly formed feet. He supposed he should be looking for a file. Of some sort, containing a map of the sewer system and the collective air conditioning shafts all throughout the buildings. It was a chore to have to look through everything in the office, and every second he became more and more paranoid that someone was going to walk in on him, that he would have to quickly make up some sort of adequate response as to what the hell he was doing in there.

The more he looked, the more he became sure that there was no way out of there. He couldn't find _anything_. Where would documents like that even reside? Next to the maintenance stuff, or the construction papers? He had no idea.

He looked desperately around his general vicinity. He remembered seeing a large fan on the side of the building that might be attached to the air conditioning veneration system. I may have been part of the one that got rid of hot air, but that could be very dangerous considering he didn't have any suppositions as to how warm it could grow to be. And if he got Max through the sewer system, he didn't know where they would get out to. They could be trapped there forever and never find a way out in the darkness. The fan might be their best bet, providing his weight didn't break the shafts.

His his searching fingertips finally met a different, older looking stack of papers in the back of the Director's more abandoned looking files, under his desk in a big pile. It was blue, and sort of faded and torn at the edges, with evidence of liquid damage from a coffee spill. It unfolded crinkily as Ari lay it out on the desk, hunched over, examining it with his enhanced predator vision. It was a map of the entire Institute, so intricate that he hardly knew where to start looking. There was everything from electrical circuits to light movement, to an incineration pipe that made several stops in several different places before it finally exited out the roof of Building #3.

The clock mounted on the wall behind him clicked every movement of the second hand. He glanced at it for a minute and realized that it was way later in the day than he would like it to be, and that the Director would probably be showing up in the next quarter hour or so.

_Damn_.

He folded the large map up and slid it into the waistband of his pants. They wouldn't see it there, would they? The office was still in order, he had made sure of that, and the things on the desk of the Director were still OCDically straight and placed exactly. If anything would have been out of place, he would know about it and maybe raise an alarm. Ari hated to think what would happen to him if they looked back at the security camera tapes and saw him sneaking around. Then _h__e_ might end up in the incinerator.

Ten minutes later, Marius was way on the other side of the building, pretending that he had overslept and was likewise late for breakfast. His yellow eyes shined brightly, the map feeling heavy against his side.

The other Erasers were all clad in their military-like uniforms, standing in line with metal bowls grasped between their brutish hands like they were prized possessions. A overweight woman was scooping handfuls of raw meat into them sparingly, making sure that everyone had only enough so they didn't, like, eat one another.

A few heads turned as he shoved his way to the front – one to the perks to being an Alpha. He was the leader, and the others were supposed let him do whatever he wanted. The new breed of Erasers were younger than him by at least one year, making all of them of age three or less. Ari didn't quite understand how the Institute aged all the Erasers so fast, but he imagined there was some sort of chemicals or steroids involved. Not that he really cared.

"Double portion," he said to the woman, trying to stay in character. He hadn't taken any of his regular pills in the last twenty-four hours, so he really had to watch himself.

Her eyes flashed worriedly at the sight of him. Tall, muscular, scarred. Handsome, too, but that wasn't her concern. He was bigger in stature than the others, so she didn't question him and dropped to scoops of rancid meat into his dish. _Like dogs_, he thought.

Each of them had a number, and they had to use the same bowl every day that was etched with their serial.

"Hey, Merry!" one of the Erasers, Locke, called to him from across the dining hall.

He badass-nodded in the other's direction and followed to where he and Locke had sat every single day since they had been released from the poorly-labeled "nursery". There were a few others that sat at the table, but Ari didn't really find them interesting at all. That was why Locke was Beta.

Before he sat down, Ari hit Locke as hard as he could in the middle of his back. Locke yelped in surprise and growled while the Alpha positioned himself in the seat directly across from him on the cheap metal bench.

"Don't call me Merry again," he said pleasantly.

Locke nodded. There was something about him that Ari had always found comforting, or as comforting as a giant brute with half his face mauled off could ever get. He smiled crookedly, his damaged face crinkling to reveal his large canine teeth. "Heard you scored with that avian chick yesterday."

The meat inside Ari's mouth suddenly soured. He spit it out into his bowl again as raw emotions cracked his soul in two. He tried not to let it show, but Locke knew him better than that. "Not so fun?" he asked.

Ari shook his head. "I was drugged. I don't remember any of it."

"That's a pity."

He felt like kindly shoving a fork through his friend's good eye, but decided against it. He was trying to outgrow that sort of thing.

Ari changed the subject, but the image in his mind of Locke with a fork sticking out of his face didn't leave his mental screen.

"What do you think it's like out there?" Ari asked him, as he looked at the crude light coming out the only small window in the room, which was lit with white lights – much like the rest of the Institute.

Locke' blue eyes showed mild astonishment.

"What do you mean, _out there_?" he asked, like Ari had somehow had completely lost his marbles.

But Ari wasn't messing around, and something in his voice caught Locke's attention. Marius chewed on a particularly tough piece of meat thoroughly attractively and rolled his eyes at his friend's reaction, "You know what I mean, asswipe, out _there _out there."

It surprised him to get this sort of response out of Locke. Locke was the toughest of the tough of all the Erasers, excluding him. They had grown up together, always fighting for the bigger shares of food, picking on the littler pups, and establishing their dominance before they could talk. Even though they were only four years old, it seemed like their existence had dragged on for much longer than that. Being inside the Institute had that sort of effect on you. What was more, the whitecoats had brainwashed all of them, teaching them that the outside world was a dangerous place. That if anyone knew about their extraordinary abilities, they would be killed. Ari knew better than that – he'd been out of the Institute on several different missions to kill important people in different places. But Locke had never set foot outside the concrete prison. They wanted a backup in case Ari managed to get himself killed. Ari knew Locke wanted that privilege. It was kind of a twisted friendship they had, if you could even call it that.

Given his background, it was easy to understand Locke's emotions when the subject of escape was brought up.

"They'll kill us," he said a little too toughly, picking the last bit of meat off of a piece of bone. "You know that. We wouldn't make it."

Ari felt like slapping him across the face. "Listen, we are _killing machines_. What could stand in our way? Flimsy little humans with pistols? Those new cheaply built breeds of Erasers? I don't think so."

Anger rising, Locke lowered his voice. "Look, we're not leaving the Institute. End of discussion. There's a life here for us, and there's not one out there. It's as simple as that."

"It's not as simple as that, they're using us. Can't you see?"

"Hey, don't freak out, I'm just saying it's better for us here."

"Are you scared? Is that it?"

"Are you calling me a coward?"

"I was forced to do things last night that I didn't want to do! I raped a girl I didn't want to rape. It's all a sick _game_, Lockehart. It's all part of their sick little game. We should get out of here. We could do it."

His friend shook his head like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Marius, I've known you a long time, but I think you've got a something not working right up there. It's not safe in the outside world, and _you_ are going to get yourself killed trying to obtain a glimpse of it."

Ari just stared at him. "What _are_ you?"

Locke cleared his place and stuffed the last scrap of meal in his jowls, and left without taking a second glance. "Idiot," he muttered.

Staring at the metal table beneath him, Ari clenched his fists so hard that blood started to pool beneath his ragged fingernails as he started to morph. He was in better control of it than when he was younger, so with a few deep breaths, he was able to phase back and focus on the task that lay ahead of him. He was going to get Max out, and it had to be soon, and he was going to do it without the help of his best friend.

A lump in his arm indicated where a tracking device was located just under the skin. It had to be replaced every few years because his white blood cells were far more aggressive than any of a human adult and would shut it down quicker than any other immune system of other mutants grown in the lab. It could easily be gauged out, he imagined with a pocketknife or something.

He refused to be part of this sport. He was not a chess piece, but an individual. Not an animal waiting to get gunned down. Not an avatar, but a _person_. He could think, he had _feelings_. That meant something, didn't it? That counted. Ari hardly knew anything about the world above, but he knew that these scientists needed to be brought to light. There had to be someone out there that thought this was wrong. All of this. Children should not be modified and made to run on treadmills until they died of exhaustion.

No, they needed to be punished, and he had to make sure of that.

* * *

><p>That night, all Max could think about while she lay on the mattress next to the wall in her crude cell was the reality which could await her in the future. She had no doubt she was going to escape. She would not lose hope in Fang, and she knew that he would come for her no matter if it meant he was going to die in the process of setting her free. And the night – morning? – before was when Ari had held her hand and promised her he would help her get out. She had no doubt he meant it when he said he would. There was something in those eyes of his which cemented his words, something that changed in his face that made her really believe he would. After all, he probably knew the Institute inside and out, backwards and forwards. Better than she ever had. If Fang wouldn't pull through, she could almost be certain that Ari would.<p>

The other thing her mind kept going towards was the possibility she could be pregnant. First, the idea of it scared her so badly that her stomach tightened uncomfortably whenever it cropped up into her subconscious again. It was like she was in limbo, forever staring at the grey ceiling and wondering, searching, and wishing. Wishing this wasn't so. Wishing she was back in the cabin with Lou, Fang, Iggy, and El. Wishing what had happened the other night hadn't, and that she wouldn't be carrying the child of an Eraser. She didn't know what she would do if that happened. It would probably eat its way out of her abdomen if it had to, and dear Lord, that would be painful.

But then she started thinking about what her life might be like if the child was born normal. Would she be able to be a mom? Was she even the mom type? She imagined that Fang would kill her if he found out she was pregnant and it wasn't, you know, wasn't his. Not that she and Fang had anything going on, – because they _didn't _– but Max could be certain that if anyone touched her in any provocative way, he, weirdly, would want to make sure it wasn't anybody he didn't know, and wasn't Iggy. It was a very abstract and confusing emotion he had towards the school and what they could do to Max. Fang always had her back, and she knew he would lay down his own life in an instant if it meant saving hers. And she would do the same for him in a heartbeat. This is what friends did, was it not? She wondered what normal kids her age were like and what their ties would be towards the people they cared about. Probably not anywhere near hers.

What if they child _was_ Ari's? She didn't want to think what Fang would do then. She remembered the last thing that she saw before being abducted was Fang being sliced open with claws, and then shot in what she thought was his heart by this same creature that was now trying to help her escape. What would he do?

* * *

><p>"Oh my God, I think we might finally be in Nevada," El said tiredly as she was still strapped around Iggy's midsection. He had his arms around her, probably to make sure she didn't fall out of the sky, and whooped as they passed what looked like a large sign on the ground below them.<p>

Fang squinted. "Welcome to…Nevada," he read in monotone. They'd been in the air for a very long time, and his eyes were starting to droop with exhaustion.

Iggy was smiling, though he couldn't see anything of what was going on. "How long until we reach Death Valley? Not more than a day, right?"

Unzipping his windbreaker because of the heat, Fang made a face. "Probably not. We're really close, though."

There was a moment of silence as they all studied the red dirt so far below them. Off in the distance, a couple of buzzards were circling something that had died, or was about to die. Fang hoped it wasn't some sort of foreshadowing of their demise in the next twenty-four hours.

Around two-o-clock in the afternoon, they took a break for lunch and for some much-needed sleep. They supposed it would be safer to try and get into the Institute by cover of night, so Fang had suggested they tried to modify their sleep cycles accordingly. The three of them took turns taking half our naps before they got up again and searched behind a McDonald's for food that may have been discarded. There was a quite a bounty of stale burgers and slightly outdated salads. Iggy even managed to get his hands on an apple pie. When the sun started to set, Fang looked pointedly at Iggy and Ella and said, "Okay, we need a place for you to hide. I think I saw some caves a while back..."

"Wait - you're leaving us behind?" Iggy gawked mildly. "Uh, I don't think so."

El wasn't looking much happier, but Fang knew what he had to do. He had to go in alone. It was too dangerous for Ella, who'd never fought anything in her life, and Iggy, who was blind as a bat.

Fang said nothing, and neither did they, but he thought they understood well enough.

This was a battle he had to fight alone.

* * *

><p><strong>Intense cliffhangers are intense. The next chapter should be fairly long and intricate, so I may take a little longer than usual. Plus I have finals coming up and lots of projects I need to get done before the 11th of next month, so I may not be able to update for two weeks. I'm sorry! I'm also going to be gone at a retreat from the May 20th to the 2nd of June. I'll still try and write, but won't be able to update at all. <strong>

**But please review and tell me what you thought! Who should get Max out of the Institute? Ari or Fang? I have so many trips up my sleeve it's insane. Prepare to be entertained :)**

**So, yeah, review please! **

**~Steph**


	11. Fig Nigs

**I'm so sorry I haven't updated in forever! I have excuses, though, and they're legitimate. I was at Summit Ministries in Manitou Colorado for two weeks attending classes six hours a day on apologetics and worldview classes. It was really fun! I met a lot of awesome kids from all over the United States and learned a whole lot more than I think I could ever explain to you guys. Best yet, I feel like my life has been forever changed by this experience. If anyone else out there thinks they'd be interested, or has questions regarding topics like homosexuality, abortion, or religion, I'd be happy to talk with you :) And you should all check out my blog: Birdwatched dot blogspot dot com.**

**In other news, my fat daschound got an infection in her foot and has to wear a little pink cast all the time, which pretty much just makes her look stupid because her legs are literally three inches long. She is the greatest _ever_. So gloriously fat. Ever so much. **

**I'll be trying to update more frequently now that school is out for me. I've just been super busy for the last, like, four or five weeks. But I'm back! And I'm writing, and I have lots of plans for this story. So yeah, you should read it and don't forget to review!**

* * *

><p>"It's not fair!" Iggy grumbled for about the fifth time since he and El located the cave Fang had pointed out. It was hidden enough so they could make a fire, but not enough so they could have it by the mouth. As a result, both of the two had watery red eyes from all of the smoke. Iggy kept his closed, since he wasn't using them anyway, and Ella was actually glad for once that he was blind. She probably looked like some sort of zombie.<p>

She huffed again, poking the logs on the fire as they finally started to dwindle. "Well, I'm not any happier about it than you are, but _as I have said several times_, Fang's probably better off on his own. It's a pretty serious operation."

"She's my sister, too."

At the mention of this, Ella breathed a sigh. Iggy had always been protective of Max in a way she didn't really understand, but she sort of wish, in another, that he would maybe feel the same about her. "So am I," El pointed out.

He rested his head on the cave wall a little too hard, making him wince at the slight twinge of pain he experienced. "No…" he drawled, as if thinking of a way to put this. "You're a little different."

"Am I?"

"Yeah," Iggy agreed. "I don't really know how."

She half understood what he could have meant, but thought to herself she was just being silly and jumping to the wrong conclusion. "Like a cousin?" she asked.

"I've never had a cousin."

"Then you don't know that I'm not one to you."

He shifted so his face was directed towards her and frowned. "No, I'm pretty sure you're not. Maybe you're like a ferret."

El forced herself not to laugh, but threw a rock hard enough at him that he yelped in surprise. He chuckled to himself and rubbed his chilled arms, reaching for his jacket. Ella looked at him, observing his smooth, fair face, the beautiful color in his sightless eyes, and the curve of his lips. She forced herself to focus on something else. The backpack full of food they had nicked from behind a grocery store spilled open onto the floor of the cave, a package of Fig Newtons peeking out from behind the numerous canned items.

"Fig?" she asked.

"Yes?" he responded attentively, folding his hands.

"Do you want one?"

"One of what?"

"A fignig."

"Do I want…myself-myself?"

She realized what he must be hearing from across the fire, consonants somehow being lost in transaction over the swirling smoke as it rose over the flames. "A _fig-nig_," she annunciated.

Iggy's eyes lit up. "I would _ever_ so much," he said in a British accent.

"You're a retard."

"_I'm a retard_?"

"Yes, you!" she laughed, half joking and half not.

He shuffled himself on his backside around the fire so he was situated next to Ella and had access to the snacks that they were supposed to share for the next odd number of days. They really had no idea. Iggy held out a pale hand expectantly, and El placed the cookie in his palm, making a conscious effort not to make any skin contact with him. "Gregory buy these for you?" he asked, a different tone in his voice than she knew how to place.

She shook her head and then remembered he couldn't see. "No, we just got medical stuff and a shirt for Fang. _We_ stole these."

"We did? Okay," he said absentmindedly. After a moment, he said again, "Do you think he liked you?"

"Pig?"

"I'm serious!" he objected. "This is a legitimate question. If he did, I'd have to kill him. That's how it goes."

She almost snorted. "How it _goes_?"

"I'm your best friend slash big brother, that's how it works."

He was grinning ear to ear, and she blushed deeply. He was so close, and he knew it. They stayed there for a while, her right knee touching his left as they stared at the fire. She shivered a bit, and he took off his jacket for her. _Much like Fang probably would have_, she told herself.

"Thank you," she said quietly as he draped it over her shoulders. "Won't you get cold?"

Iggy smiled again. "I'll be okay."

He opened his wings a bit and placed them behind them both to keep them both warm in the midst of the cold desert air with the cold stone of the cave draining every ounce of head she was sure she had right out of her. His scent overwhelmed her and she started to feel the weight of the gathering exhaustion consume her. He put an arm around her and pulled her close to him in a very brotherly manner. "Body heat," he said, as if he needed a legitimate explanation.

Her eyes drifted shut and she rested her head on his muscled chest, an arm draped around his torso. As she began to float into unconsciousness, she thought she heard him whisper, "You're beautiful."

* * *

><p>The night was new, and the cold desert air was bitter against the exposed areas of Fang's skin as he silently glided through the silence of the dark. His raptor eyes searched the ground below him thoroughly as he sailed at a completely unsafe altitude. But if there were guards outside of the Institute, posted on the roof and just about every other nook, they wouldn't be able to see him. Fang was just as dark and cold as the night which surrounded and hid him from sight. Darkness was his camouflage, and the moonless darkness hid him well. It had seemed like he had been going in circles for the past hour, his eyes never leaving the ground save for checking the air around him for signs of, like, flying Erasers. It was a pity they weren't as simple as they had been when he was a child, because they weren't as advanced back then and didn't have the sky as their advantage.<p>

Finally, he saw it. The white peaks of the building barely stuck out from the small valley it was concealed by, but Fang knew them well. He angled the tips of his wings towards the place while he tried hard to slow his racing heartbeat. He would have never admitted this to anybody, but Fang was scared. There was a good chance he could die tonight, and Max would never be free. They could use him as blackmail against her, perhaps torturing him while she looked on and they made her swear she'd let them do whatever they wanted to her as long as they let Fang live.

He didn't want that to happen.

Pushing the idea out of his mind, he focused on the reality in front of him. Itex was just as big as he remembered it, and just as ominous-looking. There were the three connected annexes that made up the Institute, and there were the armed guards positioned strategically so no one could get in or out. He scanned the sides of the building for the entry point he was planning on. He'd brought a backpack full of needed supplies he had gathered on the way in order to accomplish what he had carefully considered as his rescue plan. The fan, he had decided, would be the easiest way to get in. He'd just have to jam something into it so it would stop, and then he could crawl through the air ventilation system to where he was _almost_ positive they had Max. It would probably be in the central network of rooms in the middle building, where they kept the high-security experiments that had the most potential to, you know, destroy everything in the near vicinity of, say, a mile. Fang would have to disable the security camera, but on the other hand, he could easily pull her through an air vent once he unscrewed it with his Swiss Army knife.

It was flawless. Gotta love those Swedes.

Coasting silently, Fang searched for a somewhat isolated guard. There were several perches, and from what he could tell, no security cameras in sight. But he could be wrong, and he probably was. One man looked about Fang's size and had his gun down, like he was too tired to continue the night. He'd probably had too much to drink in the break room or something. Fang imagined they didn't expect armed assaults and hardly got any action on the job whatsoever, so it was likely that these guards wouldn't exactly be _on guard _ever.

Fang glided down without a sound and landed behind the man so silently, he didn't even notice. _Like a ninja._

Quicker than the guy could process, Fang had his nose plugged and mouth covered and held him tightly while he struggled. But Fang's arms were wrapped around him so tightly that, after a minute, he finally ran out of oxygen and fell limp. And for good measure, Fang kicked him as hard in the head. He then began to strip the man of his uniform, and almost grinned – as he had a small pistol with a silencer. This would undoubtedly come in handy. Max had never approved of weapons, but he figured that, given her circumstances, she might reconsider for the time being. You could never be too safe.

Fang quickly changed into the man's clothing, taking his helmet and goggles last, and examined himself in the shiny exterior of the Institute's outer shell. It was brilliant – he looked just like one of Them. Even if they _did_ find him in the air vent system, he could probably figure out some bullshit to tell them and they'd buy it, hopefully.

With a shake of his head and a shrug of the shoulders, Fang took everything the man had on him and strapped them onto his utility belt. He cut long slits in the bullet-proof jacket with his pocketknife, and then looked at the man for a long while before setting his jaw and raising the pistol.

_I'm sorry_, he thought tersely, preparing to pull the trigger.

He waited for the muffled sound of the gun, but it never came. He couldn't bring himself to do it. He wasn't a killer.

Instead, he breathed a heavy sigh and felt the man's pulse before pulling a length of rope from his backpack. He tied the man's arms and legs together with a synch knot used for traps, which was difficult to untie even if one's hands were free. A small piece of duct tape was used to wrap around his head to cover his mouth. With one look back at the passed-out figure of the guard, completely stripped of his protective wear, Fang swung his backpack over his shoulder and took off in search of the fan. In mild disgust, he noted that the uniform smelled slightly of beef and cheese. _Ugh_.

The fan was not difficult to locate, but avoiding the remaining guards was another thing. He was silent enough, but as he clung to the side of the building while raising an empty coffee can he'd found to jam into the revolving propellers, he suddenly realized he probably couldn't go completely unnoticed while executing this mission. Clenching his teeth, he forced himself to shove it in completely and had to quickly recoil while a puff of smoke and several sparks flew, confirming he had accomplished what he had set out to do. The fan had come to a complete halt. He took notice of the crackle of the radio attached to his belt.

"Did anyone else hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"What?"

"Nope."

_Well, that was easy enough. _He pulled the grate easily out of position and climbed inside the long, dark shaft. It was so dark, in fact, that he could hardly see anything in front of him aside from the reflections of the moon and stars in the metallic material the shaft was made of.

_It's now or never_. Fang painstakingly putting the grate back into its place and yanking the can out of where it had been jammed. There. Invisible. Just how he liked it.

* * *

><p><em>Snip! <em>A bright spark ignited while Ari continued cutting wires in the ceiling. He really didn't know what the hell he was doing, but kept his eyes on the security screen below him. The camera which was trained on Max.

_Snip! Snip!__ Snip!_

He had been successful with only about one thing thus far, that was nearly turning himself into semi-human popcorn several different times as he tried to shut the security down. He figured that if he was going to do this _at all_, he might as well go _all_ the way. A particularly large yellow wire stood out from all the others, and he considered for a serious moment before resolutely slicing it through. He hoped to God the electrical gloves he had nicked would work. _He_ may be able to afford dying tonight, but Max couldn't. The entire room below him shut off – lights and everything – at the cut of another large wire, which was red.

_Oh, so _that's_ where it was._

He hurriedly put the ceiling tile back in place and started climbing up through the skeleton of the Institute, where repairmen and such other employees would ordinarily occupy whilst fixing something important. Max was on the ninth floor, and Ari was on the seventh. At the very most, he may have shut down the electricity for the entire building, but he couldn't be sure. In any case, with that area of problems instantaneously resolved, his plan was dramatically simplified. The security alarms wouldn't work, so he could easily hack through the rafters and use welding torch to make a hole in the wall. Oh yes, he had brought toys.

The inner workings of the building were incredible. It was like a universe completely comprised of little lights, intertwined wires, and cement. There were elevator shafts, ladders which went this way and that, copper pipes, cables, and the air conditioning system all entangled into one huge, flawless working system. But a fly had landed in the ointment. Him. And brilliantly, everyone in the building thought he was on security duty, making sure nothing had escaped. However, nobody was checking to make sure _he _had not escaped.

He used the elevator shafts as landmarks to estimate how many floors he had traveled past, and, knowing the distance between rooms, he guessed Max's compartment would be some ways to the left.

Should he get into the air conditioning system? The welding torch was heavy in his belt, and he legitimately considered it before deciding for sure. It was risky.

Ari pressed the red button on the side and perched on an iron rafter as he started to make an Eraser-sized hole in the side of the rectangular shaft. He'd be able to look out of the vents in the ceilings, he thought, which would make everything so much easier. And easier was good.

The inside of the crude square collapsed on itself inside of the vent and created a loud _clang_ that probably could have been heard in the rooms above and below him. _That was a smart move._

"Dammit…" he drawled quietly, trying to be quick about his work. He couldn't help but feel a little paranoid, and he kept thinking that there were noises being made inside of the air conditioning system that may or may not have actually been there. What could have been the sound of footsteps could also have just as easily been radiators being turned on and off, vents opening and closing from different parts of the system. A _donnng_ a great way down the shaft caught his attention about ten minutes later. He heard some shuffling, and, additionally, the crackle of a radio.

_Shit_, was his first thought, and he started to army-crawl as fast as he could, trying very, very hard to be as quiet as Eraserly possible.

He counted from the right of a wall the different vents he passed, looking through them with his enhanced wolfish eyes and using his sense of smell to judge how close he was coming to Max. By this point, he could definitely sense her presence, but he just needed to figure out which direction the scent was coming from. Darkness was his only companion here, only accompanied with the occasional small beams of light pouring in from the fluorescently-lit lab rooms and holding cells guiding his way. Her scent became stronger and stronger as he came to the end of a particularly long turn, and he quickly scanned his surroundings with his eyes for any means of remaining security. And then the lights flickered out, a direct result of the power-outage he had so conveniently caused. So he was left alone in the dark.

Only, he was _sure_ he wasn't completely by himself. He could feel someone there, and whoever it was was making it exceedingly difficult for him to mentally track because of their quiet stride and silent breath. The scent of blood and sweat filled his nostrils, causing his yellow eyes to dilate on impulse. Ready to kill.

Ari could feel as claws started to grow from his fingertips, his breathing quickening unnaturally. They'd probably sent this one after him because they figured out he was missing.

He mentally prepared himself for the killing he was about to make when the subject suddenly let out a oral whistle consisting of four pitches. It waited for a few seconds before it received an answer of the same pattern.

The answer came from Max's room.

Suddenly, Ari didn't know what to do. "Who's there?" he asked wearily, hating how pathetic he sounded in his confusion. His voice was rough from the dust he had been breathing for the last hour, and the sounds his throat made were surprisingly wolfy.

There was a very long pause while the other party said nothing, and then he felt the nose of a gun being shoved by his back. He could hear a smile. "God doesn't like you," came the rough masculine whisper of Max's one-manned rescue party.

Upon instinct, Ari's forearm came up and knocked the pistol out of the other person's hand. A hard fist collided with his nose, and he felt the familiar warmth of blood begin to trickle. There was another punch to his eye, but Ari managed to chop the guy in the neck hard enough to effectively knock the wind out of him. Quickly, two feet came up and caught Ari in the chest, causing him to hit his head hard on the roof of the air conditioning canal, since the space between several connecting shafts was much bigger. Ari registered the sound of metal on metal and knew the other person had managed to grab hold of the gun again. Four years of combat training had taught him this much, that the man with the gun _always_ wins.

_Knife_, he thought suddenly, his hand reaching down automatically to pull the blade from the strap around his ankle. He prepared himself to throw it at the other, but a noise below them made both fighters stop. Voices. Someone might have heard them.

As if to clarify, the other asked in a very quiet voice, "Whose side?" The voice was young.

The puzzle put itself together. _Oh. _"Hers," he said, catching his breath, perspiration dripping down his temple. This was the one he shot.

Another silence. The tunnel shook as the cool air turned on, sending a chill down Ari's spine. The gun was placed on the ground between them and the attacker held his hand out. Ari shook it.

"I don't trust you," Fang said, "But you're my only hope of finding Max. Can you show me?"

"Okay," was Ari's one-worded answer. He knew _exactly_ where Max was. Right below them. "I won't kill you if you won't kill me."

Fang exhaled loudly. "Alright, deal."

* * *

><p>He didn't know what to think, making this sort of pact with an Eraser. And not even just any Eraser – this was Ari, the one who had shot him, the one that had the eyes of the Lucifer himself. He was a serpent in his heart, and it was only a matter of time before he would get one of them to eat the apple, and it'd all be over for everyone. This is what Fang was afraid of, but it was the only way he knew to get Max out of this godforsaken building. But this creature, whether good or bad, knew this place inside and out. And the fact that he was also in the air-conditioning system gave Fang the slightest bit of confidence that maybe he could be telling to truth after all. <em>And if he's lying,<em> he thought to himself,_ I'll shoot._

The body in which the Eraser was encased was deformed and misshapen. Fang imagined that it must be painful to be such a failure, to have been altered after birth rather than before to have wings. His legs were bent, and his back arched in a way that sort of gave him the appearance of a malicious demon, and he couldn't believe he was actually about to follow this fallen angel through the dark underbelly of the Institute. There was something about the way he smelled, moved, and breathed that made Fang's skin crawl. How he used his claws to pry away the air vent lid above the room he said Max was being contained in. His arm went through first to crush the security camera for good using only the strength in his fist. Fang didn't even see Max until her fragile, feminine hands closed around the wrist of the creature which he had seen in a dream take advantage of her. And now, somehow, she trusted it. But soon, his hatred towards the animal was momentarily replaced with an indescribable emotion when her dark eyes locked with his and he beheld her shrunken, blood-and-tear-stained face in the crude glow of the red "Emergency Exit" light.

"Fang-" she choked, falling forward towards him.

He caught her in his arms and they sat for a long minute just holding one another in silence while she cried quiet tears of relief. He kissed her face where it had been battered with dark bruises and she caved into him with a weakness he had never seen her possess before. It was horrible.

"It's okay," he murmured in her ear while she wept, "It's going to be alright. I'm here now, nobody's going to touch you."

Ari reached out and put a gentle hand on Max's back. "We need to go. It's now or never, they're already sending for the Erasers."

Suddenly, his eyes had started to dilate and his facial muscles twitched.

"What's going on?" Max asked him weakly.

The Eraser pulled a face. "The dog whistle," he said simply, "Come on."

He plunged into the darkness of the air tunnels as the haunting sound of wailing animals began to fill the concrete barriers holding everything together. Fang gently urged Max to go first, and they followed as fast as they could after him. The pace of the small group quickened as panic and adrenaline began to set in. Max found it hard to keep up with Ari, who was showing them the way out in a blind world. She was exhausted and weak, her body ached in a way nobody could ever describe, but every time she looked behind her, she found the reason to go on. Fang was following closely, and she couldn't help but think that she would never have to have any other comfort ever again.

The tunnels winded, inclined, and declined. They shrank at several different points, and she and Fang had to end up shoving Ari through the metal walls because he plainly _would not_ fit. The sounds of the dogs got closer and closer as the minutes went by, but there was light, literally at the end of the tunnel, that also began burning brighter. Max could finally see her hands in front of her as she crawled along, feeling blisters forming on her palms, and she was able to mentally push all of her momentary discomfort off to the side in order to just survive.

_Pain is only a message_, she kept telling herself. Right now, she was holding all calls.

The familiar hum could start to be heard, the one that both Fang and Ari recognized as the fan which would stand between them and freedom. The sounds of the other Erasers were so loud now that Max expected them to come hurtling around the corner any minute with jaws as sharp and powerful as any shark. Fang looked around for something to jam the fan with, but incidentally, the can was no longer useful, seeing as it had been shredded beyond repair. He looked at Ari, but the Eraser didn't look back at him. He seemed to be formulating a plan, but was seriously questioning himself as he did so.

"Ari…"

Then in a split second, the Eraser shoved Fang down before he had a chance to react and wrestled the gun free from the holster. He fumbled with it a bit before there was a click as the bullet snapped into place.

"What the hell are you–!"

He cocked the gun and let a bullet fly at the fan, which immediately ricocheted off of the revolving propellers and narrowly missed Max's neck, making her yelp in surprise. Fang made a move as if to tackle him, but the Eraser eyed a important-looking small bundle of wires on the wall and aimed again. He had shot again before Fang could stop him, and the sounds of the dogs getting closer than ever. The fan stopped its operated revolving and started to slow down. Ari chucked the gun at it like he hadn't even meant to do it, and the startled metal panels halted on impact, stunned, allowing them time before the hounds of hell made it through the shafts to find them once again.

He practically threw Fang through the opening he had created and moved Max towards the exit gently, but as quickly as he could muster. He picked her up under the knees and around the shoulder and jumped, right as bullets began to fly. In addition to the pain caused by the simple action of flying, a explosion of agony sounded loudly in his ribcage and shoulder. He yelped in pain, but didn't stop flapping, not even as he began to feel lightheaded from his overloaded nervous system. He had been trained to never give up until the mission was over, and that's what he was going to do here.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Fang quickly following after him, shouting, "Ari! This way! Follow me!"

Everything in Ari's body screamed for him to drop Max and tear the hell out of there. And at a certain point, while all while he could feel bullets whirring past him, he began to lose altitude again. Fang descended with him and gathered Max in his arms, angrily and almost too forcefully, and the expression on his face remained indistinguishable as he saw the bullet wound which had bloomed in her side. A muscle in his jaw twitched angrily.

Adrenaline was racing furiously, and as they flew, everything began to blur together as they continued dodging fire, and ascending higher and higher into the gathering dark clouds as the heavens prepared for a storm. They could hear other Erasers in the air around them, and the recognizable hum of a helicopter, but they were conveniently too absorbed into the grey, condensed masses to be found. There was lots of shouting, and a lot more fire. The clouds lit up behind them.

Ari was lagging behind, and Fang slowed his pace, annoyed that he now had to look after an _Eraser_ of all creatures. The one that had nearly killed him, no less. And now that same animal was suffering the very same wounds he had inflicted upon Fang. Somehow, he didn't feel sorry for him. Maybe all those years in the Institute had degraded his sense of morality and ability to sympathize. Maybe they hadn't. All Fang knew was that he _didn't_ care. All he wanted to do was keep Max alive.

He looked down upon her face again and allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. She was safe. Her beautiful brown eyes looked back up at him, and she gave him the weakest of smiles, showing her appreciation for his rescuing her.

Tenderly, he kissed her temple.

"Thank you," she breathed against him.

* * *

><p><strong>These chapters just keep getting longer and longer don't they? If you could review I would really appreciate it! Tell me three things you like about yourself, and one thing you like about this story :) <strong>

**I love you all! And I have to go get the nanny kid out from the crib because he's screaming his head off. Bye!**

**~Shturfany**


	12. The Furry Refrigerator

**Hey! Steph here. I hope everyone's having a great summer so far. I certainly am. I've actually had a lot of time to write this week, so I'm updating tonight simply because, well, _I can_. It's nice that I don't have to worry about school getting in the way of my writing :) **

**Anyway, I don't really have much to say, so here's the next chapter! I hope you like it, it's pretty suspenseful. Cheers!**

* * *

><p>Fang couldn't ever remember being so thoroughly exhausted in his life. Not even when he had been chained up to a treadmill and literally had to run for six hours without stopping for anything, and not even when he had to chase Iggy around the mountain for an entire day when he put bleach in all of Fang's laundry. He had learned an important lesson that day: <em>do not<em> trust a blind ginger to do chores simply out of the _kindness of his heart_.

Right now, he was feeling the most desperate he had ever remembered feeling. Rain had completely saturated all of his clothing, and all of Max's, making the pair of them excruciatingly heavy, so it was difficult as he tried to find his way through the dense fog and the constant threat of electrocution. Lightning. He was afraid to go below the clouds, because he didn't want the Erasers who'd been chasing them to find their little flock. He was actually surprised that Ari had managed to keep up as well as he had, now that Fang thought about it. One thing he knew about Erasers was that they were trained to never give up, and to always stay conscious. They had the about the pain tolerance of a drug addict on LSD, and his body was built to survive almost anything. It was sort of like that Wolverine character that he and Iggy had seen in an X Men movie a few years before at the theater. One didn't simply _kill_ an Eraser. They were built to _live_.

This is what sucked so much about the situation. Fang _knew_ that they were all going to die if the Erasers caught up with them. Ari was wounded, and Max couldn't even lift her head if she wanted to at this point. She was draining fast, and it was all Fang could do not to dip into the nearest town and ask someone, _anyone_ for help. The worse of it all was that Max had actually finally passed out cold a few minutes ago, and her breathing was slowing. He didn't know if that meant she was merely exhausted, or her bullet wound had finally caused her to bleed to death as the rain poured down upon them ever harder. He forced himself to believe that wouldn't happen, and that he would _let_ it happen. So he beat on, upstroke, down stroke, until he finally could allow himself to lower his altitude so he could check to see where they were on his mental map. They, he and the flock, had a built in sense of direction which he couldn't seem to explain in any way. It was like if Fang was pointed in one direction, he would be able to tell anyone which way one would have to go to reach, say, Juneau, Alaska. He had left El and Iggy towards the west, where the mountains were and where they could probably found a cave. They'd also probably have set a fire, so he could figure out where to go from there. He'd told them specifically where to go, and he expected them to be there.

Raspy breathing over his left shoulder indicated that Ari was following close behind him. It was admittedly creepy.

If Ari was so close, that meant Fang had been slowing down, and Fang couldn't afford to slow down. He determinedly beat his wings harder and ignored the burning sensation he got in his shoulders every time he moved them. Involuntarily, he shivered while his body tried to warm itself up. _There's absolutely no feeling like freezing to death, _he thought numbly.

"How much...further?" Ari panted, struggling to keep up with Fang. His flapping was ragged as was his breathing. The expression on his face was one of a person suffering extreme pain, which was completely understandable considering his state of being.

Fang pretended he hadn't heard him for about a minute, searching the line of rock in the distance before them for any sign of a campfire. _Iggy had said he'd start one and keep it going so they would be able to either see the smoke, or the light, _he recalled.

His fine raptor vision settled upon a small beacon a long ways away, and he prayed it was the one. Fang formed his lips in order to release a high-pitched whistle that they all know well: the one with four pitches. To anyone else without genetically heightened senses, the call would simply sound like a bird's song. But to them, it was really very distinct. After all, not every bird knew the _Hunger Games_ jingle.

He waited just a little bit, and the sound was returned in the exact same way he had delivered it. "Over there," he said gruffly to his companion.

Max shifted in his arms and he could feel blood that was not his seeping into his black clothing. They swooped down, calling and waiting, calling and waiting, hoping that through the mess of the storm, they would somehow be able to locate the cave amongst the rocks. This proved hard to do because canyons and stone walls play tricks on the ears. At this, Fang soon began to feel overwhelmed, as he could no longer tell which pitches were merely echoes of his own voice, or signals repeated by Iggy.

Ari, however, was better at listening. His hearing was better, as it was conveniently the hearing of a genetically enhanced wolf. His yellow eyes darted back and forth, trying to locate which direction to go in. He would tell Fang in a low voice which ones were real, and which were his echoes. The avian's jaw tightened, frustration mounting on the fact that he had to rely on this creature in order to save the girl he loved.

_As a sister_, he told himself, shaking his head.

Finally, after the freezing rain had effectively numbed all feeling in his body, Fang could finally see the soft light of a fire becoming closer. A small campfire. Ari was seriously looking like he was going to keel over at any given time. Fang silently prayed to _whoever_ was up there that they would all make it in one piece. Max would probably never forgive him if he let the Eraser die. He turned his head to make see if the monster was following him, and without any compassion called, "Just a bit further."

"Is Max...going to make it?" Ari huffed, his eyes drooped and arms pressed against his middle, where it was obvious that blood was flowing heavily from. He wouldn't die, Fang was pretty sure. The Institute genetically engineered these creatures to be able to lose a lot of blood and be able to replenish it with their behemoth of a heart. It was almost as big as his lungs. But from the looks of it, Ari had lost much more than he could replace.

Admittedly, this concerned Fang to an extent.

The cave opening got closer and closer through the tough curtain of freezing rain, and the warm glow of the fire offered minimal comfort to his broken spirit. Thunder boomed, and a crimson sun had started to ascend in the east. He lifted a hand to his mouth to let off another series of whistles. This time, there was no echo, and the clear answer as day. They'd found them.

They were free.

* * *

><p>El was shaken awake out of a very pleasant dream involving her mom and going to school with friends when she was roughly dragged out again by the very person in whose arms she had fallen asleep in. Before she even had time to ask Iggy what was going on, she saw a dark figure appeared at the mouth of the cave, drenched in water from the violent storm which ensued outside in the night air. Their fire provided little light, and thus she couldn't tell if it was Fang or not. It trudged shakily across the somewhat inclined, uneven slope that she and Iggy had perched themselves at the end of, and collapsed over the limp body of what she recognized as Max. Ella's mouth nearly fell open. Her leader was stone pale, and her light blue hospital gown was discolored by the amount of blood flowing from a wound in her side.<p>

"She's going to die," Fang's voice broke uncharacteristically, like he'd tried his hardest to keep it in. "We can't save her."

Another figure parted the shimmery curtain of falling water at the entrance to the cave, following Fang, the silhouette of the same creature that had attacked Fang almost a week ago. She almost screamed.

"Fang, behind you!"

"He's okay. Got shot three times."

Fang's face was surprisingly composed, and he appeared as if he wasn't concerned _at all_ about the fact that there was an Eraser, you know, just _chilling_ in the cave.

He understood the looks in their faces and continued, "He saved Max's life. That's all I know."

That was all he provided before lifting Max's gown, pointedly ignoring her nakedness, to examine the wound more closely. It didn't bother him the slightest – he and Max had seen each other way too often as children with little or no covering at all. Iggy couldn't see, and Ella didn't know that, so she blushed for Max and turned her head to look at the lupine hybrid.

"Iggy, how bad?" Fang was asking.

"Let me check."

Fang put his hands where she was bleeding, and his light touch fluttered over the bullet hole like butterfly wings.

"What's the Eraser's name?" Ella questioned as she approached the beast. His condition did not look at all stable as she would have hoped. Fang had said he saved Max's life, so it was all that she could do to help him.

Fang's jaw set while he watched Iggy examine the injuries on their beloved friend, who looked like if she wasn't dead already, she probably should have been. The expression on Iggy's face was not encouraging.

"His name is Ari," he said flatly. "The one who shot me."

"This is _bad_," Iggy said quietly. "This is really deep, and it hit the artery in her abdomen. How long have you guys been flying?"

He thought. "Maybe half an hour," Fang replied, crouching over her vacant body. The regular impassive expression he seemed to always wear had now been replaced with pure emotion - that of fear, love, and anger. He tried not to notice the dried blood on the inside of her thighs, because he already knew what they had done to her.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ella slowly approaching the weakened Eraser, who had been trying to pull the bullets out himself with his claws. She was saying something very quietly to him and set the first aid kit down close to him.

"My name is Ella," she murmured, touching his arm with complete gentleness, embodying the humble façade of a Nightingale.

In front of him, Iggy's hands were stained crimson, his expression unreadable.

"I can't do anything. We need to get her to a hospital," he wiped his hands on his pants briskly.

Fang opened his mouth to protest, but Iggy stood up and held his stained hands towards him. "She is going to_ die_, Fang," his fingers dripped, "She is going to die if you can't _suck it up_ and get her some help. I _know_ how you feel about her, and you're protective of her, but so am _I_! _I want what's best for her_, and what's best is that she doesn't dietoday!"

He was yelling by the end of the last statement. Blood trailed down his elbows and dripped onto his shoes. He jerkily pulled off his shirt and began to tear it into strips, much like how he had done when Fang had gotten shot. He did this to emphasize his point further. Iggy handed a wad to Fang a little too roughly.

"Put pressure on that. Ella, get over here and elevate her legs, I need to put a bandage around her."

He was trying as best as he could, but Fang felt with a sinking feeling like Iggy was right. Risking everything to go to the hospital was probably the best chance they'd have to make sure Max survived the night.

As soon as they had been able to stop some of the bleeding, Iggy wrapped a bandage around her entire torso and told Ella to get Max some pants. Ari had several bandages applied carefully, and his now-human face showed a certain quiet appreciation towards the girl with the deformed wings.

That was something they had in common: imperfection.

His yellow eyes met hers, and she put a hand on his shoulder for just a second, before going off across the cave to find something to clothe Max in. Ella pulled her backpack on and gingerly helped Ari to his feet while Iggy shoved the rest of the supplies into his bag, slinging it onto his back.

"El," he said, holding his arms out, and she went to him.

Fang lovingly touched Max's cheek and picked her up gently into his hard-muscled arms. The bandage in her side was like a mere finger in a goddamn dyke.

Ari took off after Fang into the pouring precipitation, and Fang mentally reminded himself to keep a mental tab on the Eraser in case he, like, fell out of the sky. In which, he would have no idea what to do.

"Is it safe for him to be flying?" Iggy asked once they were in the air, reading Fang's mind and gesturing his head in the general direction of the Eraser.

Fang was holding Max so tight he thought she was going to break. "I don't think it's safe for any of us to be-"

"Uh, guys...?" Ella interrupted, her voice trailing off in a way that neither Fang nor Iggy liked. She was looking straight down below them and her hand pointed towards the drenched ground about five hundred feet down. There was a tumbling black silhouette that sort of resembled a furry refrigerator.

Wait._ Shit._

Without the luxury of thinking, Fang was forced to figuratively jump into action.

Iggy started, but Fang had already instantaneously plummeted a couple hundred feet, keeping Max as close to his body as possible. If he dropped her, he would never, ever forgive himself, not if he died a thousand times over.

He managed to shift all of her weight to one arm and hold his other out as he neared the falling body of the Eraser that he cared nothing for. They were so close to the ground that he actually thought for a moment that all three of them were going to die a pancakey death, but his hand somehow found and latched onto the belt of the Eraser. He forced his wings to cooperate and willed the three them all to slow down. His excruciated and anguished cry echoed in the night as everything in his back strained to extreme degrees. Somehow, he managed to save them all, not allowing either of them to be released from his freezing hands. He kept his wings in the same position even though the pain in his newly torn muscles nearly made him black out. He forced himself to get through it, clenching his teeth so hard they might have cracked.

The three came to a somewhat awkward and painful stop on the sidewalk below them, and Fang hit his head hard on the pavement. The rain was letting up some, but the cold remained. Headlights of cars whirred past as people who did not care to look closely enough turned a casual eye to the pile of carnage the three resembled. Iggy's white figure dropped Ella next to them all, and she covered her mouth with her hand.

Shaking, Fang had to close his wings by hand through the tears of pain that leaked free from his black eyes. His mouth opened in agony, but he forced himself not to make a sound.

"_Hide_..._hiswings_," he managed in a slur to Iggy, obviously referring to Ari, who was sprawled on the ground near Max in an awkward position. His legs were bent in ways they probably shouldn't have been. He was bleeding a lot, and in his confusion, Fang didn't have the sanity to think about how tragic it was going to be that the Eraser escaped that hellhole only to perish on a paved sidewalk in the middle of a whitewashed suburb in a pool of his own blood.

Minutes went by. A lady with a black lab jogged up the lane, not noticing the group while she changed the song on her iPod. She looked up after a second and her mouth fell open when she realized what the dark liquid was.

"What happened?" she exclaimed while her dog sniffed around.

"Um..." Ella began eloquently.

But before she could even try to explain, the woman had whipped out her cell phone and called an ambulance.

The EMTs showed up after what seemed like eternity. Fang was brokenly holding Max in his arms, his fingers on her pulse, completely ignoring the pain that seared his shoulders. They tried to pick him up and get him on a gurney, but he fully resisted.

"No! NO!" he shouted as they detangled her from him and took her out of his sight. "Let me go with her! _No!_ _Max!_"

Fang was completely and uncharacteristically hysterical. Ella put her hands on his arms and tried to calm him down while the EMTs strapped him down to keep him from struggling. He, Ari, and Max were systematically loaded up into the loud ambulances, sirens blaring, metal shining, and rain drenching. He couldn't see Max, and he didn't know where Iggy had gone.

Ella had gotten into the ambulance with him and was loosely holding his hand in one of hers. They had never touched before, he realized vaguely while an oxygen mask was placed over his mouth. His hot breath fogged the silicon while he breathed heavily. He had tears leaking out the corner of his eyes, and he finally lost consciousness from the blow to his head when he hit it. Ella pressed her lips together tightly when one of them started to cut away the jacket he had been wearing. They both waited for the question they knew was coming next.

"Who is he? Is he your boyfriend?" the first one, a guy with a nametag that said "JACE" asked her.

She shook her head quickly. Ew. "No, he's…my brother. His name is…Luke. Luke Ride."

"And you are…?"

Ella thought for a millisecond before saying, "Austin."

She mentally slapped herself. _Dammit, that's a boy's name._

"Austin?"

"Uh, yeah, that's what I said. A-U-S-T-I-N," she thought, thinking on her toes. "I go by Aussy, um, and the other two, they're our siblings as well. Luke's and mine."

The guy was writing all of this down on a clipboard. "What are their names?"

Before she could answer, the other EMT, a girl called "EMILY", shakily asked, "What are these…?"

She had cut off Fang's shirt to reveal multiple bruises that would need some serious attention. But more importantly, several feathers poked out from underneath him. Ella suddenly felt lightheaded.

The guy, Jace, touched the feathery folds in wonder, not understanding. Ella looked at the man, willing him not to, like, freak out or call the mad house.

"Wings?" she provided weakly.

He looked at her very seriously for a full ten seconds. Slowly, he nodded and looked back down at the injured boy before him, like this was totally normal protocol or something. "Um, okay. Can you tell me what you think is wrong?" he was looking at her like he expected her to spit out an anatomy lesson so he could fix Fang. But they both knew it wasn't going to be that simple.

"I can see the head injury, and we've patched it up good enough for now. He probably has a concussion, but that doesn't seem to be the source of his pain."

She looked at Jace seriously. "Flip him over."

"What?"

"Just _do it_, okay?" She was so frustrated that she wanted to slap the guy. She didn't have any idea how to do any of this. When they had effectively moved Fang into position, she continued. "See this where the wing meets the shoulder-blades? There's a muscle here, I don't know what it's called, but I think he tore it. It's like the Achilles tendon for you, but for us, it's extremely painful."

She was showing everything she had ever observed watching Iggy repair Max and Fang when they'd hurt themselves. She had seen this happen to Max before, and it had healed up pretty quickly once Iggy put it back in place and wrapped it. She had to stay off of it for a long time, but she was fine now. If she made it.

With her hands, Ella gestured different places while the EMTs tried to follow her as much as possible. When the ambulance arrived at the hospital, though, everything fell into confusion. Fang was whisked out of her sight before she could stop them, and she was left to be confused in the lobby of the hospital while she watched him disappear into a room. Max had already made it to the emergency room before she had arrived, and while she stood in the hallway, not knowing what to do with herself, Ari also was brought through the doors by a team of people in white coats.

Everyone was in white coats.

A hand slipped into hers and she held it tightly, leaning into Iggy's shoulder.

"You think they noticed the wings yet?" he asked under his breath.

Before she could answer, someone came out to meet them. It was a short lady with brown hair and bright green eyes. She looked directly at Iggy. "Are you…Austin Ride?" she asked.

"No…" Iggy started right as Ella answered, "That's me."

The woman stuck out her hand for Ella to shake and said kindly, "My name is Dr. Murray, I'm the head of the medical department here. Is this your brother too?"

Iggy nodded, playing along like they all knew how to do. "Yeah, Xavier."

The woman smiled at them, a little shakily, gesturing for them to follow her a ways down the hall, the doors automatically opening for them when she swiped an ID card on the lock pad. They came to a room where there was a window looking into a surgery where Max was visible, tubes going down her throat and all kinds of strange devices taped to her.

"Are you…like them?" Dr. Murray asked slowly.

Iggy looked in Ella's direction, never letting go of her hand. She looked back in at the limp figure of her leader, several surgeons gathered around her in blue uniforms and took a deep breath.

"Yes."

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><p><strong>Dun dun dunnn...Don't you hate cliffies? Bah!<strong>


	13. FBI: Fang Being Irresistable

**Hey! Sorry I wasn't able to update last week - I had to really think through this chapter a lot and figure out a lot of the details. Surprisingly, the content of this chapter came to me in the shower of all places. It's a good place to think. **

**I also had the stupidest moment the other day when I went up to CSU with my sister to check out her apartment. I was carrying this really big box inside and didn't see their really old, rickety TV sitting on the floor and I walked right over it _and kept going_. So I fell on the TV and somehow sliced my leg open a good three inches on my thigh, and it was pretty deep. And bled a lot. So now I have this big stupid gauze medical bandage that I have to keep applying every night. It is ridiculous. **

**I also got my senior pictures taken by her dorm-mate from last year! I was surprised that I can actually look pretty when I put some effort into it. Funny how that works, right?**

**Anyway, I wrote this all today and yesterday. Enjoy and don't forget to review!**

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><p>Things had been dreadfully slow at the FBI's Las Vegas headquarters for quite some time, save for all of the crime being committed by various morons flouncing around town in their birthday suits shouting their heads off, and theft in worn-out, expressionless casinos. She didn't understand it all. Through the shades partially covering the chicken-wired windows in her private work room, Anne Walker was able to catch a glimpse of the mindless lives so many here surrounded themselves with: lights, cars, and drunk people. Her blue eyes flickered towards the digital clock on her mahogany desk, which read 11:35 PM, and she still had a lot of paperwork to be done.<p>

A twenty-year-old man had shot his parents and younger sisters three days ago, and not surprisingly, Craig Dean, her superior, had assigned this case especially for her. She was good at finding evidence where no one else did, he had told her. And, he had added, it could even finally get her that promotion she'd been working her ass off to get for the last three years. If she was successful.

There were no photographs on her desk of a husband, and no kids to speak of. She was practically married to her job already; what time did she have for a family? She had the house of her dreams, a great deal on a loan, and that Mini Cooper she had always had her eye on. Walker was nearly at the top of the FBI career ladder, and she wasn't even thirty-five yet! Maybe she'd adopt an African baby after work finally settled down a bit, maybe get a dog or a bird.

A knock on the door finally broke the concentration that she'd worked so hard to keep going, and she almost threw her letter-opener at the person who opened it without permission.

"_What?_" she hissed, spinning around quickly in her cushy rolling chair, fingers like claws on the arm rests.

Dean's face appeared around the door post. "I have something for you," he said, contrasting her crazy with his cool, collected attitude.

She yawned loudly, sounding so much like a whale that she finally realized why she'd been single for a year.

"Craig," she said tiredly, trying to keep her cool – which wasn't easy –, "I've been working on the Kornelsen murder case for the last twelve hours. I want to go _home_. Couldn't you have paged me?"

His brown eyes crinkled. "Well," he replied respectfully, "If I had paged you, I couldn't show you the fax I just received."

"Because faxes suddenly run the office," Walker rolled her eyes.

Dean wasn't joking around, though. His face had a sort of excitement written on it, along with traces of disgust and possible anxiety. She and him knew each other so well that they were practically brother and sister. They could literally have conversations without even speaking to one another.

"Four human/avian hybrids showed up at the Saltland Valley Medical Center forty minutes ago with one human/avian/lupine mix. Two had gunshot wounds and are in critical condition, and one completely healed itself within a matter of ten minutes," Dean reported, a smile playing at his lips.

Walker's eyes widened and her mouth hung agape ever so slightly.

"So," he continued, "I was going to page the Evidence Recovery Team and head over, ask some questions, maybe get some first account eye-witnesses – and by that, I mean to see them myself –, and then after, I think we may have a lab to track and shut down."

"You're saying an –"

"Opportunity of a lifetime? Indeed, indeed," he finished for her. "But, if you want to go home, it's nearly midnight–"

"No, no! I'm coming! Don't you dare leave me out of this."

Within just a few seconds, the agent had gathered all of her gear and managed to shove it all into the tiny briefcase she carried with her wherever she went. Her cute purple coat somehow had buttoned itself correctly this time, and in minutes, both she and Dean were on their way in his Porsche to where they had been told they'd been treating the hybrids. "So, you're thinking those urban legends were true?" she asked. Rain was pouring down like it hadn't in nearly three months, and she watched the windshield wipers swipe furiously back and forth while they tried to keep up with the amount of rain pouring down. She hated rain.

He licked his lips. "I'm not saying anything right now," he said, "But I've been having some strong suspicions 'cause–"

" –Trained medical officials don't just get a hold of us for no reason at all."

"Exactly. We've _never_ gotten a call like this."

"I can't believe they didn't contact us sooner. Could have saved me the writer's cramp from the case."

Dean checked quickly over his shoulder before shifting into the other lane without bothering to turn on his signal, which bothered Anne a little bit because she was slightly OCD. "They probably were too busy, oh, you know, patching them up."

"Like outfits on scarecrows."

"You're a true Iowan, aren't you?"

Within minutes of speeding down the highway at a completely unsafe pace considering the weather, the two agents pulled up in front of the hospital with a purposeful screech. The government license plate protected Dean's baby from tickets when it came to important things like parking. His official badge and badass personality helped a bit, too. The handicapped spaces had always been his favorite, and Anne watched as his lip twitched into a smile as he swung the car around into it.

Behind them, several other cars pulled up and Dean threw his keys to one of the guys, an intern named Stiles, so he would know right away to park it. Craig Franklin Dean had the entire world wrapped around his little finger.

Walker followed her superior into the gigantic hospital and nearly shoulder-to-shoulder, the two approached the front desk. They both flashed their badges at the receptionist, who referred them to a certain level with a specific address. They were to be finding Dr. Murray, the head of the medical department there, whom they had spoken with before on numerous occasions. She was a nice woman, and they had always gotten along fine – provided she was able to hand them tangible evidence on the spot right as they needed it.

When the doctor opened the door to her office, both Walker and Dean knew right away that there'd be no problem with needing additional evidence. This office was the place where they had had numerous discussions with patients and families of patients for various reasons stretching from drug use to baby-snatching. It was a fairly large room – about the size of a conference hall. A glass wall separated one desk space from the other, and a see-through door for access. The back wall was covered in X-Rays which the doctor had found most impressive over the years, but three X-Rays caught Walker's attention in particular. The silhouette of what looked like a human skeleton merged with a bird's, and a bullet located in the midsection. The next showed a different figure, bigger in size, which had several bones in the wings broken. The last showed a creature with not only wings, but the claws of a dog.

The layout that evening was a little different from ordinary, aside from the pictures on the board. At the doctor's desk which was outside of the glass room, there were two children. They were both splattered with blood and bruised up so bad that Anne had to wonder if they'd been attacked by something. The next thing Walker noticed about the two was that they looked nothing alike. The boy had fair skin and cloudy blue eyes, and the girl looked like she was half-Hispanic, with brown hair, dark eyes, and tanned skin. She looked at Anne with an expression that told her there'd not need to be additional questions that needed to be asked about who and what she and the boy were. It was clear that these two were results of scientific experiments that went terribly wrong.

Feathers littered the floor around their chairs – a habit of nervousness for creatures of the avian species. Any veterinarian could have told them that.

But the two agents did not concern themselves with points such as these. Dean held out his badge to the girl, who seemed to be responding to the presence of himself and Walker with her full attention.

"What's wrong with him?" Craig referred to the boy, whose eyes were not focusing on anything as he stared straight ahead. His skin was shiny with perspiration and he wrung his hands like a worried elderly man.

"Blind," Dr. Murray responded before the girl could speak. "He lost his vision in a…surgery."

"It was botched," the girl said. "'Bastards tried to enhance his sight, but it didn't work."

She stood and held out her hand, brown eyes locking on the man who had begged the question. A confident air surrounded her, and it was clear she had no fear of people. When she shook Anne's hand, Anne took notice that her hands were not jittery like most they interviewed. This girl clearly knew what she was doing and had a plan in mind.

"My name is Mr. Dean, and this is my partner, Ms. Walker," Craig introduced them, "We're from the FBI a few miles away. Could we maybe start by getting your names?"

The girl looked at the boy, and as if he knew she was doing so, returned the glance. His empty blue eyes somehow rested on Dean while he stood and shook the man's hand like he knew exactly where the man was standing.

"Name's John Doe, and this is my sister Jane," he answered the man inaccurately, just to show the FBI agents that he didn't trust them. This was normal of teenagers, Anne remembered, but it bothered her all the same. What had been done to these kids that had made them so afraid of people?

The girl put a hand on his shoulder, and Walker noticed it clamped down pretty hard. "The others don't have official names," she answered. "But my name is Gabriella Estela Martinez. I, along with all of my friends, were created by an underground lab located in Death Valley, called the Itex Institute of Genetic Engineering."

Gabriella let that sink in for a second before divulging on a story she must have been preparing to tell. "I was born with deformed wings," she said, huffing, "so they threw me out into the dumpster outside to die. But my adoptive mother, Dr. Valencia Martinez, took me and never returned back to work

"I lived with her for thirteen years like her own flesh and blood in Arizona, where she opened up a veterinary office in order to support the both of us. I was told later that she was a member of a group trying to expose Itex for what they were doing, working with undercover scientists within the lab. Namely, one named Dr. David Louis. He alerted my mom the night she and I were supposed to be murdered. But Lou – I mean Dr. Louis – took me to where he had the other three hidden," she gave a meaningful glance at the boy, whose jaw was set hard as he listened to what his "sister" had to say. "My mother died making sure we weren't followed. And Louis…" she paused for a moment to take a deep breath. "He…well, he died of pneumonia in the cabin where he hid us in Colorado. We lived there for a few years afterwards until a few days ago when came back because they wanted Max – the oldest one of us. She's our leader."

Craig Dean was surprised at all the information the girl had divulged. Her long statement ended with an awkward end, like she hadn't really known what to say after that because the story wasn't yet over. Gabriella's eyes darted between him and Walker while she waited for one of them to tell her she was wrong, or that they were going to be sent to the funny farm.

Looking at the boy, Dean asked slowly, "So, what do you call yourself?"

He was being gentle for "Professional Craig", and Anne didn't expect the boy to even give him an answer. He looked less likely to tell them all that he knew.

But to their surprise, the boy looked up. "Iggy," he mumbled. "It's not short for anything."

Walker smiled a little. "Why don't we all sit down and talk for a little bit?"

"Uh, we just _did_," Iggy said bluntly. The girl gave him a backhanded slap on the arm, scowling, to which he defended, "Well, you guys are the FBI, right? Can you just send some helicopters in and go get them? Fire? Guns? The SWAT team?"

"We'll need to get some more information from you both. And also the others," Anne explained quickly. "The locals here _have_ had rumors going around about a sort of lab that creates illegal creatures mixed with human DNA and performs all kinds of unauthorized procedures, but it's always been dismissed as urban legend. You're human/avian hybrids?"

"They'll send people after us," the girl dodged. "We need you to understand that this hospital is not safe while the five of us are in it. Yes, we're hybrids, and yes, they want us back A-S-A-P."

Walker pulled up a chair across from the kids. This could be a long night.

Dr. Murray was standing behind her, so she turned in her seat to look at the woman now playing with the stethoscope around her neck.

"Have you made sure the other three aren't found out by the wrong people?" Anne demanded, her voice making her sound like she meant serious business.

The brown hair on the woman's head bobbed jerkily while she nodded profusely. Walker wondered if she hadn't slept in the last twenty-four hours, what with being a trauma surgeon and all.

"Do you understand what it would mean for the press to get a hold of this case?" she continued, "And how embarrassing this will look for our country if a word escapes this room?"

"Yes, ma'am," Dr. Murray answered solemnly, finally understanding the full responsibility she had to claim as the Director.

"Good," Walker turned around to look at Gabriella and Iggy across from her, the boy's hand in the girl's, and his fingers pressed against her cheek. Iggy's face was a picture of anxiety and he held onto her like she was a solid rock in the middle of the ocean, all while he was tossed about in the storm. Anne's professional façade dropped immediately out of pity for them. They'd obviously been through a lot.

"Look," she said gently, "we're going to do everything we can to take good care of you. You're in good hands. I want you both to understand that we are here to help you. You're not going back there, I promise."

They didn't look convinced.

Dean had stepped away and entered the glass room with Dr. Murray as yet another man in a white coat entered through the main door. He quickly joined the two inside the sound-proof windows, and the three sat down to begin what looked like would be a very serious discussion.

"While they figure out the more technical details," Ms. Walker began, "I'd like to chat about what we're going to do with you once your friends recover from their injuries."

Gabriella held up a finger. "First," she said, "I'd like to know if you're going after Itex."

"Yeah, I'm not agreeing to anything unless I get your word you'll destroy them," Iggy added. "No way."

"There's still a lot that needs to be investigated –"

"–Yeah, but there's still a lot of innocent kids inside those walls that need to be saved," Gabriella raised her voice. "You think we could just forget about them and come with you?"

"I'm trying to be _reasonable_," Anne stressed. "I can't promise you anything right now, but I'm giving you my word that I'm going to do everything in my power to find the scientists that created you the way you are, and I am going to prosecute their rich, twisted asses right off. I will promise you that I will try.

"But what's important to the FBI and the good of the hospital right now is that the five of you are taken care of well, and that you don't fall into the wrong hands. Dean and I talked about putting you all in the foster care system–"

Iggy started.

"But," the agent added quickly before he could speak, "I don't like that idea. I think you should all stay together and live in the same home. You could attend school, have a family, sufficient food, and your very own beds. And, the good news is that the FBI has found somewhere through the witness protection program where you can do this."

"So," Gabriella frowned, "We're, like, settling down?"

Anne smiled. "Exactly."

She looked at Iggy, who in some way knew how to look back at her. "Do we get to make up new names?" he asked, sounding genuinely interested.

"Yes."

"Can I be 'The Amazing Spiderman'?"

"Uh, no."

The girl's hand raised. "Question: Say we did decide to go through with this, where would this safe house be?"

Both Anne and Dean had spoken a lot about this and come to the decision which they thought would be the best, and the safest. The place where they knew the kids were going to be looked after and defended from things ordinary people would have no idea how to handle.

"With me," she said. "You'd live with me."

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><p>Noises alien to her ears filled Max's subconscious as she drifted in and out of either being alive, or being dead. Lots of voices filtered in and out, lights flashed behind the shelter of her closed eyes, and the sensation of being poked and prodded was all that she could understand for a very long time. Prickling was not an uncommon feeling for Max – and it was in fact more natural for her to feel sensations such as pain and being uncomfortable, rather than those of comfort and soft things.<p>

It seemed like an eternity of floating, feeling, dreaming, and thoughtlessness that almost made her believe she wasn't really there, and that she didn't really exist. Eventually, she finally began to latch onto the feeling of being and having significant weight, and was able to process the voices a little more intelligently. The dark fog she had felt crush and suffocate her began to wane while air seemed to return to her lungs, and nerves seemed to return to her skin. She could feel a hand in hers, tubes across her nose, and the cool sensation of the air conditioning as it was switched on.

She could hear again. She could hear her best friend beside her, whispering things under his breath and begging her to wake up. But she couldn't move a single part of her body. She wanted to squeeze Fang's hand to let him know she was there, but she couldn't, and her motor skills refused to respond.

The monitor assuring them that she was still alive beeped along with her struggling heartbeat, and with a sinking feeling in her stomach, she realized they were in a hospital. A real hospital, like, for normal people.

But this discomforting feeling was soon forgotten once Fang's hand brushed hair away from her face, his lips pressed against her forehead, and what she thought was a tear landed on her cheek. He brushed it away, of course, gentle like the touch of a butterfly's wings.

She focused on trying to move her fingers. He was still holding her hand in his, and he'd be able to feel it right away. As she struggled to make her body cooperate with just this one small task, her frustration began to mount.

Fang's hand was cupping her face gently, his thumb stroking her cheek, careful to avoid the tubes taped to her skin. She could hear his breath hitching, trying to hold back sobs. He wasn't doing a very good job of it.

Then she realized something – Fang thought she was _dying_.

He had trailed off, and wasn't saying anything more, which made her sad, because she couldn't remember all the things he had said before. It was like one of those dreams that exists only when in slumber, but drifts away afterwards, never to be recovered. She managed to move her eyelids just a little bit. Everything outside of her was blindingly bright, and none of it was focused in any way. She could see his dark figure enough to know that he wasn't looking at her anymore. His hand covered his eyes while he cried.

Her heart broke.

It was a long time before he was able to look up at her again, and she hadn't accomplished much other than fluttering her eyelids just a bit. Her toes twitched almost undetectably. He'd finally kind of pulled himself together when he realized her heart had begun to beat a little bit faster and rhythmically.

"Promise me something, Max," he said, now partially in control of himself, but his voice had that tone that everyone has after they've shed tears. "Just live. Live and be okay, you're not allowed to do otherwise. We need you too much – _I _need you too much."

Both of his hands were suddenly on her face, and he gently leaned over and pressed his lips lightly against hers. He kissed her for a good ten seconds while her heart monitor sped up noticeably, to her great embarrassment. Adrenaline raced into her system and she was able to lift her arm and place her hand on one of his which was resting on her face.

He pulled back in surprise.

Max gave him a very tired disapproving look. "We talked about this," she croaked as her voice let itself be heard. She didn't know what else to say.

Fang had just _kissed her_.

He gave a lopsided smirk, so full of mischief that she was almost able to convince herself it had meant nothing. It _had_ meant nothing. "It always works in the movies; figured it was worth a shot."

There was something in his eyes that she couldn't quite read, and though she was loopy as hell, she was able to detect that his cheeks had reddened just a bit. She couldn't believe how tired she felt, and just then, she realized how badly her side felt. "So, am I dead?" she changed the subject, uncomfortable.

"No," Fang said, "But you've been out for six days, which to me was almost worse."

"How is that worse?"

"You could have been in a long-term coma," he answered, a mixture of pain and relief in his husky voice."I haven't slept in…well, I haven't slept almost at all, actually," he added. "I was really worried about you. You scared the hell out of me."

His eyes were red and he had dark circles under them.

"So, I passed out, and then what happened next?" she asked, wondering to herself why the hell she wasn't more concerned than she was. Maybe she was on drugs.

She liked drugs.

He then explained to her what had happened in the last couple of days. She had passed out after losing too much blood, and so had Ari. Fang of course had been able to heal himself after he hyper extended every muscle in his back, and from what it had sounded like, it had hurt like a mother. El had convinced Iggy to go to tell the FBI everything about their lives so that Itex could be taken down, and they had, yesterday, but Fang somehow didn't know the details. It was all classified information, even for them. Fang said they'd all have to go to trial and testify, but that wouldn't be for at least a month. Ari had almost died, but several pints of Fang's blood had saved him, to her delight.

"That was good of you to do," she said quietly.

He nodded, and his mouth opened slightly. "There was one more thing, they said, about you."

Max watched him while he searched for words. It was like he didn't quite know how to word what he was going to say next, and he finally just spit it out after rolling it around in his mouth. When he did speak, the words were soft.

"They told me you lost the baby."

The statement hit her like a subway train. "The what?" she asked slowly, her voice shaking just a bit. Her face reddened, suddenly reminded of the terrible deed that was committed against her, and the embarrassment that Fang _knew_ what had happened to her.

Her chin began to tremble as hot tears came to her eyes and she tried to flush them down. Wordlessly, Fang climbed into the bed next to her, making her sit up and pulling the sheets tight up around her. He wrapped her in his arms and pressed her head onto his shoulder, rubbing her shoulders while she just let the tears pour. The shame she felt, the humiliation, and now, for some reason, she cried for the child who had been brought into this world by evil, and taken out by the same hands that drove its creation. The shot she had received to the abdomen would have killed it instantly, she realized. There was no way.

Fang rocked her back and forth and told her it was all going to be okay, and she tried to believe that it would.

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><p><strong>Sorry, this wasn't the greatest chapter ever, but it was sort of necessary. Please review! <strong>

**~Steph**


	14. The Swiss Family Flockerson

**It's update day! And also the 4th of July, so Happy Independence Day! I think I'll celebrate by eating an entire half-gallon of Blue Bell ice cream. That sounds sufficient to me :) **

**I'm going to dedicate this chapter especially to The Wolf Who Walks Alone, and Pancakes-For-You. You guys give the best reviews, so thank you so much! I enjoyed all my reviews, so here's for all of you - a long chapter. Enjoy!**

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><p>Max stayed awake for the next several hours while a couple of different nurses filtered in and out of her hospital room to check and see how she was doing. There were only two, and Fang had said it was because the hospital was trying to keep the five of them as invisible to the world as possible. Who knows what would have happened if word had gotten out that five teenagers with wings had checked into the hospital and, oh, one had a miscarriage and another was part wolf. The <em>New York Times<em> probably would have wet itself with excitement. They would have been all over the front page overnight. "_FREAKS FOUND GUSHING FOUNTAINS OF BLOOD – ALL IS SURPRISINGLY WELL. BTW, WEREWOLVES EXIST."_

It wouldn't be a pretty picture. She shook her head.

Fang hadn't left her side hardly at all, and the only times he did were to use the bathroom on occasion. On the few trips that he made, however, he made sure someone else was in the room with her, and that he had custody of their right shoe. Normally, Max would have thought this was completely unnecessary, but now that she was feeling like she had not only shitted a puffer fish, but had also been stabbed several times over in the side by Edward Scissorhands, she had a change of heart.

"Can I get you anything?" one of the nurses, the one she liked named Jamie, asked as she appeared in the doorway, her red hair pulled up in a messy bun. A syringe dangled dangerously from her scrubs, and a flashback of Dr. ter Borcht nearly blinded her to the point that she couldn't even respirate.

Her breathing increased, and the heart monitor that was attached to a device on her finger started to beep a little faster. Fang had finally passed out on the chair next to her, but as soon as he sensed a change in the room's energy, his dark eyes snapped open and locked on the woman who had caused the discomfort.

Jamie.

She was the one who drew blood from him just hours before. His stare made the her wring her hands uncomfortably and look about the room like she suddenly realized she possessed eyes and had the motor capabilities to move them.

"I can take it from here," he said dryly.

Through her momentary delirium, Max had the capacity to wonder if it was simply his façade, or the fact that this nurse knew he could easily snap the IV drip in half that made her leave so briskly. It was like he'd shot her with a rubber band or something. But, after all, he was wearing a tank top that nicely showed off his toned muscles

His gently, yet firm hand settled on her knee, and she felt herself relax at his touch. This was Fang – she knew him. She trusted him. She knew she could trust him. It was going to be alright.

"I'm right here," he said. "I'm not leaving you."

Max's eyes locked on his and she said tersely through her heavy breathing, "We need to get out of here."

He nodded. "I know, the smells of antiseptic are making me climb the walls."

"Literally?"

For her, Fang pulled a rare smile.

Though her wound was healing rapidly, the hospital still wouldn't let her out of their sight – or their custody. It was almost like she had become their property, and the last thing she wanted was to be the property of something. She'd had enough of that her whole life. They'd said it was something about taking every measure to make sure she was safe, which she thought was stupid. It was completely unnecessary, of course, because she had Fang. And Fang was such a badass that he could actually eat the cafeteria's tofu, which was saying something. The security guards at the end of the hallway probably couldn't do that.

Still being characteristically bossy, had painstakingly managed to El and Iggy to move a couch from the lobby into her room _and_ convinced Fang to get some rest. Every time he'd realized he dozed off in the chair he'd spent the last week in, he'd snap up and shake his head like a wet dog. Sometimes, he'd crack his neck, too, and she was so sick of that that she could have probably _snapped _his neck if he'd but sat a little closer.

The other two had disappeared, as they did, to go and visit the Eraser that Max had managed to get them all to drag along without even saying a word just a few nights ago, and Fang took this as an opportunity to ask her about something that'd been eating him up since the second they'd reunited. What had happened to her at the Institute, and why wouldn't she say anything? Goddamn him for nodding off when he did, because now he didn't know if she'd ever really tell him.

"I saw some of it, you know," he said, adjusting his balled–up hoodie to use as a pillow and watching her with his eyes half shut. If he didn't have a stronger sense of self-control, he might have passed out the second he'd lay down. "I'd have dreams," he continued.

Max pulled her blanket closer to her.

He sat up and watched her for a second, gentle concern written all over his normally impassive face. He couldn't close himself off to her now – she needed him more than she'd ever had before. His eyes said it all, and he didn't have to speak again as their eyes held one another's. _What did they do to you?_

Sinking down in her bed, she closed her eyes and tried to think of anything but the needles, the tests, the hunger, thirst, the abuse…and the rape. Fang set his jaw, understanding that he shouldn't press for more, and lowered himself down on the couch again, trying to envision the lake and the serenity of the dark forest he'd never see again.

But sleep again was interrupted as Iggy came tearing down the hall and swung himself into the room using the metal doorframe as an anchor.

There was a broad smile on his face."They have bacon in the dining hall."

Ella ran into him from behind because she for some reason had the same picture in her mind as he did as to how one should go about entering a hospital room with complete and utter respect for the patients trying so painstakingly to recover therein. Fang almost put his face in his palms, but didn't have the energy to do more than lift his head from the cushion of the scratchy-fabricked sofa.

"Oh, God!" she exclaimed in surprise, grabbing onto Iggy's broad shoulders to steady herself. This, of course, backfired and the two fell back_wards_ onto the linoleum floor.

"Excuse you," Iggy said, brushing his hands off.

"Sorry!" she leapt to her feet. She was jittery – probably had taken advantage of the espresso machine which was located at the end of the hallway. "Hey," she said, "we're moving rooms in, like, two minutes. I convinced one of the nurses with a handful of bacon," she nodded at the blind boy, who had pulled a bundle of napkins out of his pocket and had begun crunching on what smelled like Nirvana on steroids, "I thought we should be a little closer to Ari…and there was bribing material."

Ella had had this glow about her the last few days; she'd finally sort of become a leader in their small flock. She was the only one that was comfortable around normal humans, and she had been the one who'd gone to the FBI and the police to report everything her friends had lived through so that Itex could be taken down. She and all of the others had asked relentlessly to tell them what exactly went down the other day when they said they took down Itex, but nobody was talking. They said it was all private information they didn't have the authorization to know about.

_Itex hadn't needed authorization to create _us_,_ Max thought angrily.

"I'll bet they didn't even do it," Fang said gruffly later when they were in their larger suite gathered around the two remaining hospital beds. The place was still white for the most part, but the walls were a nice beige color, and there were several more windows with a nice view of the cliffs several miles away. Light trickled in through the shades, kissing Max's face with warmth she hadn't felt for quite some time. _The sun. _She'd missed it.

"I mean, they're the government," he continued. "Don't they always lie?"

"Not always," Ella was quick to defend between bites of her poppy seed muffin. Iggy was sucking on a juice box. "But, admittedly," she said, "they do hide a lot from the public. There's a lot of stuff that mobs with pitchforks and silver bullets wouldn't be that great at handling, you know?"

Iggy laughed sarcastically. "Yeah, like how there's an underground lab creating all kinds of unsafe hybrid children. Keep it on the DL – wouldn't want the American people to know what evil is!"

Fang smiles almost undetectably. "'Mr. President, sir, can you explain how Google Maps didn't pick this up?'"

" 'Oh my God, is that a flying dog?'"

El and Max exchanged looks of annoyance.

Max noticed how Ella's eyes quickly went from her flock leader to the still unconscious wolf-boy lying motionlessly on the color-neutral hospital bed. He looked normal now, like a real human being. A surgeon had come in and offered to fix both his scoliosis and crooked legs once he woke up, but Max hadn't been too sure about it. They'd better ask him how he felt about it when he came to. Ella had certainly felt like it was a good idea.

"It would improve his quality of life," was all she had said on the matter.

While the boys continued making jokes about the police and whatnot, Max watched the face of the girl she'd grown to respect so much more in the last week that she'd ever had when they had still lived in the cabin. She was so grown up.

The girl bit her lip and shook her head sadly. Max had explained the drugs to them just awhile ago, and all but Fang seemed to feel considerably more open to the idea of keeping him their flock. She'd kept the part about the assult and the baby to herself, though. That was something she didn't think El and Iggy should know.

"I feel so bad for him," Ella said quietly. "He doesn't deserve any of this. He's just a little kid."

Max nodded, wishing she could just rip all of the tubes and needles and probes binding her to the metal bars of the bed she sat on so she could reach over and gather the girl who was so much like a younger sister to her in her arms. She wanted to hold Ari's spindly, human hand in hers like she could transfer her wellness to him simply by touch.

"That's right," she murmured, confirming what El had just said, and her eyes grazing the sleeping features of the boy she knew so little about. "It's not his fault."

With his eyes closed and him lying on his back, Marius Odil actually almost looked like he could have been normal. His brown hair with those hints of grey and black was still a little messy from when the nurses had to gently work out the dried blood that had clumped with a sponge. It looked so soft now that it was clean, and Max almost wished she could run her hand through it, just to see if it was. She had a shred of belief that that was how Ari was on the inside. Soft as wool, sensitive like an open heart, and capable of love like a little child. Wasn't that how all children were, really?

By this time, Iggy had picked up on the girl's conversation, and his face was trained in the general direction of the Eraser's head. Unlike the others, he couldn't see the normal appearance of the boy enough to know for sure that he was harmless now. He had been keeping his distance.

"When do you think he'll wake up?" he asked, but neither of the girls wanted to put a number on the days or hours until he would come about.

Fang, however, was still bitter. "Never," he said gruffly, perhaps without really meaning to. But it was unknown to Max why he would say such a thing, because she had no idea how her best friend really felt about her. Had she known, her reaction may have been a bit different.

And so her mouth dropped open. "What is _with_ you?" she quipped. "Why do you keep talking about him like that? He's just as good as you are."

"No, he is _not! _He kidnapped you!" Fang retorted. "He _raped you_, and he almost _killed me_! Forgive me if I find those things hard to forget!"

In that moment of complete stupidity, Fang had forgotten that El and Iggy didn't know about anything that he did, so neither of them said anything while Max stared at Fang with eyes that he never thought would ever pardon those words.

"_What_ did you say he did?" Iggy asked slowly, all humorous tones in his voice completely flushed and his head cocked slightly. He leant forward like he thought he might have heard wrong.

Sadly, there are few words that sound like the one Fang had just related.

"They weren't supposed to know–" Max started.

"I…I–"

"You're such a bitch, Fang," El said, sympathizing in what appeared to be denial. Iggy prepared to throw his shoe at the revelator.

This was all right as Anne Walker came into the room. She had knocked twice, but came in anyway, knowing that the four conscious kids could really do nothing to prevent her doing so. She was the FBI.

Iggy received a weird look.

"Would it be alright if I spoke with Max in private?" Anne sensed the tension in the room, which was so thick she could have cut it with a spork. Accordingly, she spoke slowly, like she was trying to make sure they didn't, like, lunge at her with concealed weapons they had somehow managed to smuggle inside undetected. "Is that okay with everyone?"

Max nodded dismissively at the others, but Fang stubbornly stayed put, for reasons that she knew were completely rational. However, she was so embarrassed in that moment that she wasn't exactly thinking _rationally_. She didn't look at him while Anne murmured a quiet thank you to the younger kids. But Fang came up to the bed anyhow and rested his palms on the metallic guard rails that Max couldn't seem to find a use for.

"I'm not leaving," he said, eyes trained on Anne in what was supposed to be a threatening manner. She didn't ask him again and continued while he set his jaw.

"Max, is it?"

The girl in the bed nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay, Max, my name is Anne Walker and I'm with the FBI."

"And that means you're supposed to be on my side?"

"You could say that."

"Am I supposed to feel safe now?"

She had a clipboard in her hands, but she didn't seem like she was consoling with it too much, and Fang had to wonder if she had only brought it as a prop to give her something to do with her hands. To him, Anne seemed like the type that always had to be busy. He had observed her hair hadn't been washed in the past few days, and her nails looked like she may have been biting them, perhaps because of stress. The bags under her eyes certainly confirmed sleeplessness.

Maybe she'd be easy to crack and maneuver.

Anne hadn't answered the question, and instead changed the subject. "Have you been informed as to what will be happening to you five once you are discharged from the hospital?"

Her blue eyes seemed genuinely kind, but Max had been wrong before.

"Not really," Max cast an annoyed glance at Fang. "He doesn't seem to have been giving people the _right_ information for quite some time."

That hurt, and Anne saw that right away. Gently, she continued on, "I've offered to have the five of you come and stay with me while you and Ari recover from your injuries."

"We don't need any help," Max tersely responded.

"Well, the last six days, you have," Anne laughed once. "Don't you think it would be good for all of you to, I don't know, have a shot at a normal life? Go to school, make friends, attend college? You can't just live on your own your whole life."

This was playing with Max's head, Fang knew. She was asking all of the right questions that would trip her up and make the mothering side of her think twice about how she could provide for everyone.

"That would be nice," Max answered, "but I don't think that kind of life is possible for us. For one thing, we've never been to a school, and Fang has a history of beating people up. It can get out of hand."

He shrugged apologetically.

"Well, unfortunately, Max," Anne started, "as a member of the FBI and an employee of the government, I could be fired from my job if I let you and the others walk out that door unsupervised. You know, it _is_ the law to go to school, and it's the law that you five be cared for."

"Anne," Max looked up at her with a stubborn look on her beautiful, flawless face. "Do we look like a gang that would really be in line with the law?"

The woman ignored her like she was a child making ridiculous excuses, which, however subtle, belittled Max into a fury. "I'm afraid it's either you come with me, or the five of you will be distributed out into the foster system and you may never see one another again."

Fang looked at Max, and she caught his eye, disregarding what he had disclosed earlier, and momentarily forgetting the anger she was holding against him. He could tell by her expression she was thinking about how she didn't want to lose him, that she didn't want to be taken away from the others. Fang had to respect that, and they both understood that this time, they couldn't run from their problems. This time, they really had no choice.

Max crossed her arms, her lips set in that manner she had which meant she was thinking hard about something. "How soon do I get out of here?" she asked absently, her eyes looking out the window towards the cliffs on the wall next to her. If they tore out of here now, they could probably find a nice cave to crash in.

Anne smiled a little. "I think, given your regeneration speed, you could even be out of here within the next few days. Maybe even tomorrow. I don't live far from here."

The girl in the bed nodded towards Ari, still out cold with the monitor beeping repetitively. "And him?"

_Of course it comes down to him, _Fang thought bitterly.

The agent let out a huff of air. "He may need to stay here a bit longer. He's in more critical condition than any of your were. They're not sure he's going to wake up at all."

Fang almost laughed. "He will," he said, looking down at Max. "He's one of them. He'll pull through."

She nodded, like she was agreeing to disagree with Fang on all matters concerning Marius. But she couldn't deny that one piece of information: Erasers were _very_ hard to kill.

"Fang's right," she told Anne, "He'll wake up. But I think we should all wait here until that happens. I don't know what he'd do if he woke up somewhere strange like this."

"What would he do?" she asked.

"Maul your face off?" Fang offered, dodging a backhanded slap from Max. "Eat one of the male nurses?"

He was playing with Max like he would do whenever she was pissed off about something. It was like he had to make fun of her, and there was nothing he could do about it. But she didn't think it was funny.

"Fang, can you please leave?" she asked.

Pain flickered in his expression, mostly because his plan to soften her with humor didn't work this time, and partially because she had never dismissed him like that. Like he was just a member of the flock. As soon as he was gone, he heard nothing more about the matter for several minutes before Anne left again, and he was allowed to return.

Taking a long look at the creature in the bed next to the girl he loved, his eyes finally rested upon her while he laid his dignity out before the both of them.

"I'm sorry," Fang said, keeping his eyes low. "I won't say anything more, just…could you _understand_ for me?"

Her eyes had again filled with tears, which pulled at his heart in ways he couldn't explain. Going back to the Institute had done something to her – 'cause she never cried in front of anyone. She was nodding, eyes shining, not looking at him. He thought he saw her chin tremble.

So he did what he felt was best. He touched her cheek with his hand and kissed her forehead. "We'll figure this all out," he promised quietly. "Don't worry. What did Anne say?"

Max swallowed with difficulty and composed herself, the way that she was always able to in nearly any circumstance. Lou had taught them to drown their feelings with rational thinking and deep breaths. Emotions didn't help anyone, he said sometimes, in most situations – something Fang had taken to heart quite literally. Sometimes, it was like he didn't feel anything at all, and she wondered where his soul had escaped to.

He had taken a seat next to her in a red cushioned chair, his elbows rested on his knobby knees and his hands supporting his chin. Someone had given them clothes to wear that weren't completely covered in dried blood, so he had on a grey jacket that said "AE" on the front in white letters, and zipped down the middle. The pants were a little baggy because he was so stick skinny, which allowed his boxers to show slightly whenever he stood up. They were new ones too, she couldn't help but notice.

The gown she was wearing wasn't much better than the one she'd been required to adorn at the lab, but it was made of noticeably softer and was covered with little yellow and pale pink flowers. She breathed a sigh and decided to answer his question after a few seconds of trying to reach a glass of water that had been set on the bedside table. Fang smiled a little and the corners of his eyes crinkled while he picked it up for her, bringing it up to her lips so she could get a sip without the hindrance of the numerous wires attached to her.

"Well," she began when he set it back down, "We're leaving. Tomorrow."

"So you agreed to it?"

"I didn't really have a choice, did I?"

He smirked. "We could go find an island somewhere. Drop off the radar. Live like the Swiss Family Robinson."

"Do you _want_ to live in a tree?"

"It's better than going to school."

She leaned back into her bed and put her hands over her eyes and groaned. "Don't remind me."

* * *

><p>In the hallway, there was more confusion in addition to that which the two leaders were dealing with. For example, Iggy had been missing for a total of twenty minutes when he <em>said<em> he was just going to the bathroom. Ella deduced that could mean one of two things: either he had been kidnapped, or he was doing something really, really stupid.

If he was doing something really stupid, he would get in trouble.

If he got in trouble, Max would hear of it.

And if Max heard of it, she would get her ass kicked for not kicking his ass before he could accomplish such a unintelligent achievement.

He was probably in someone's room dancing around with rubber gloves on his feet and three popsicle sticks hanging out of his mouth. The mental picture caused her to panic just that little bit more, and she seriously considered getting Fang to help her when she heard a loud metallic _crash_ around the corner and down the stairs followed with a string of colorful swear words.

El crept to a hidden place where she could check it out and saw something she would have never been able to expect in a million years, even if she had spent the rest of her life conjoined to the hip with the red-headed blind boy. Iggy was sprawled on the stairwell with a bedpan on his head, a couple of mis-matched brooms, a tin foil ball, and one of those rubber devices one uses to suck the mucus out of baby's nostrils with.

_"What the hell are you doing?"_ she whisper/yelled. "Are you trying to get us kicked out?"

Iggy scowled in her general direction and picked himself up. "_No_," he defended like a three year old. "Quidditch. We're playing Quidditch."

He bent over and picked up the two semi-round objects, holding them up for emphasis, and she had to restrain herself from bursting out laughing by clapping her hand over her mouth. She giggled.

"What?" he demanded, "I'm getting antsy! I've always had this problem."

She looked at him like he was absolutely crazy, and Iggy composed himself, throwing her a janitor's broom. For a split second, she worried they might get in trouble with the hospital staff, and subsequently be thrown out onto the streets...and then she decided she didn't care.

"Oh, what the crap," she said, shrugging. "I'm in."

"Awesome," he winked, putting the broom between his legs. He dashed up the stairs like he was making off on an imaginary horse, and Ella followed behind him, not really knowing what he planned on doing.

He whooped, not a care in the world.

_"Harrahpattah!"_

* * *

><p><strong>Fin! I made it longer to make up for the sadness of the last chapter, and there was some nice IggyElla fluff, which was nice :) Sorry if you're not into Harry Potter, because that last part wouldn't make very much sense if you aren't, haha. To those of you who are: _HARRAHPATTAHHARRAHPATTAH. _**

**Anyone notice the cool cover artwork? I sort of had a creative explosion the other night and made some for each of my stories. It was intense, let me tell you. **

**Please review! Make my long hours writing worthwhile :) I'm grateful for each and every one, and I can't thank you all enough for all the support. I honestly don't know what I'd do without you all :)**

**HAPPY 4TH! God Bless America!**

**~Steph**


	15. The House with the Red Door

**I apologize for not getting this up sooner. I really, truly, and genuinely feel bad. But, at the same time, this chapter took a lot of effort to come up with, and I literally spent hours trying to come up with the brain power to figure some of this stuff out. The names which will appear in this chapter were especially difficult to come up with, let me tell you, but I think I got them just right. **

**Dude, and I just learned that a friend of mine...robbed a bank? Random much?**

**Anyway, so I have spent all day editing this and writing stuff and badablurbadjlfdsakj;fdsjlk it took a really long time. So, yes, please read and enjoy - it's ten pages in Microsoft Word :)**

**LASTLY: Look up this song and listen to it. It's_ really_ good! "Beautiful Eulogy" on the album "Satellite Kites". Find it, listen to it. It's good. **

**That's all I have to say. I OWN NOTHING.**

* * *

><p>Ari finally awoke the next day in a groggy, dreamlike state. He didn't know where he was, or why. For a horrible moment, he thought he had been found again, and he would be forced to endure a terrible punishment. He could remember all too clearly the crime he had just committed by helping Max escape from the Institute.<p>

But then he saw the flowers at his bedside table, in a pretty blue vase filled with water. Across from him, there was a picture hanging up of something bright that overwhelmed his sensitive eyes. Was that a purple _tractor?_. And there was something else. Light coming in through the small window in the quiet room. Ari leaned over – he could see the sun.

He smiled for the first time in his life, felt the warmth as it found its way through the blanket he was laying under, relished in the peace it represented.

The sun.

His pupils dilated and focused. The chilly chemical aroma of the place clung to the air around him, the cold texture of the sheets, and all too powerfully filled his accelerated nostrils. He sensed someone sitting next to him, a bit beyond the bed, and could feel the slight change in the air as she breathed in and out with his skin and hair. The visitor was sitting right next to him, but he couldn't quite make out who she was. It looked like there were three of her, identical triplets. They all moved in unison, but his motions were restrained by Velcro straps.

He had to lean back into the bed and close his eyes. The claws that had erected from his fingers shrunk back and his teeth minimized again to a more normal size as soon as he had stopped struggling against them with all his might. The girl put a uncirculated, cold hand on his arm, causing him to jump a bit. He focused, and the three became one person

It was Ella.

She was in different clothes than he had remembered from what seemed like it could have been yesterday. Her brown hair was up in a messy bun on top of her head, and her chocolate eyes were wide with what looked like to be surprise. Smiled at him nervously.

"You're alive," she said with relief, eyes crinkling.

His tongue was dry and he struggled to find his words.

Sensing what he needed, she displayed a cup full of clear liquid and took a sip of it, and he understood why. To make sure nobody had poisoned it while he was asleep. El then brought the glass to his lips to gently tip it into his open mouth, trying not to wince while she observed the size of his teeth, which had not yet returned to their natural size. He saw this in her eyes, the way her muscles had clenched instantaneously, and he looked away – ashamed.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, not really knowing what else to say.

El made a sad face and shook her head. "Don't be. It's not your fault. None of this is."

From what Ella could tell, Ari seemed like he understood completely what was happening, though she had to wonder if he even knew what a hospital was. She could see the mild confusion in his eyes, which, like Max had said, were just as intense and piercing as she had described. But Ella could somehow see past that. She would not let his past actions define who he was today. When she had met him, he was a bloodthirsty killer with the comprehension level of a meth addict, but he was different now. Tears ran down his face when he came to realize that he was free at last, and that he had finally done something good in his life. He would never have to kill again.

"Ella?"

"Yes?"

Ari took a deep breath. "What happened to Max?" he asked quietly, not opening them so that he wouldn't scare her. "Is she alright?"

Ella nodded, feeling tears rise to her own face and wiping them away with the back of her hand.

He sighed a breath of what Ella knew could only have been relief. Scars marred his face body, and one dragged right through his eyebrow and across his eye socket, sort of like Scar from _The Lion King_. There were also three long-healed pink lines cutting through his hair line on the right side. The hair had never been able to grow back, and gave him an even more badass-y look than even Fang ever accomplished.

And Fang was quite the badass.

"Good," Ari murmured. "That's…good."

"You've been asleep for an entire week," Ella divulged slowly, knowing that he needed the information right away, but he also needed to process everything without, like, completely freaking out. "And they took down Itex, so…I thought…you ought to know."

His yellow eyes flicked back to hers, emotion written in them so expressively that she wouldn't know how to put them into words. The expression on his face drained his assumed age of eighteen so much that before her stood the four year old child that he really was on the inside. She couldn't imagine what he was feeling right at that moment.

"I don't think you're a killer," El said quietly, looking down at her hands, which were folded in her lap. "You're as far gone as the others when I first met them. I didn't hear Fang's voice until five months after he and Max came."

The Eraser held her gaze, not uttering a word, but drinking in her words like they were honey to his lips. What she said next reflected exactly what she had realized in the cave just seven days ago, what she had seen that the others had not.

"You're not a monster, Ari."

* * *

><p>Anne had all the names picked out already, and Max had to wonder if she'd been one of those girls who had all their kids counted though they had not yet been born. She could see no photographs of a husband or children in Anne's office – just a picture in a wooden frame posed with what looked like to be her younger brother, judging by the resemblance. The office smelled like <em>Lysol<em> cleaner, and about half an hour ago, Craig had brought in a plate of peanut butter sandwiches and some juice boxes, like they were kindergartners or something.

She and Fang had wracked their brains, practically all day, learning about as much as they could concerning their future options. The options including Anne, that is, and Max didn't like Anne all too well anymore. She was a complete, OCDical control freak. Max was now fully aware that she was going to be required to study hard, do her homework every night, and be at home and in her bed at ten-thirty sharp. No acceptions. And she wasn't allowed to go out flying during daylight.

And so Max had been required to sign several documents that she had only half read and did not want to give her consent to. But Max also wasn't going to be allowed to take Ari out of that godforsaken _hospital_ if she didn't. If the documents weren't signed, Anne said the government put them all in foster homes previously approved through training programs. And they'd be split up, they didn't forget to leave out.

"The choice is yours," Anne kept saying, but Max knew it really wasn't up to her. None of this was.

Fang had been beside her this whole time, hardly uttering a word here or there, but silently supporting every decision Max made. When the final sheet of paper came between them, she'd shot him a worried glance.

He put his arm around the back of her chair and, with his head, gestured to take the pen Anne had offered her. Her eyes protested, but he nodded.

So she did it.

Anne did her best to convey to them what was supposed to be a reassuring smile, but it hardly succeeded in helping at all. In fact, it just made Max hate her more. Her arms were folded across her chest, and one hand pressed hard against the bride of her nose while she tried to suppress the hot tears rising up to her eyes. _She didn't want to do this._

But Max was tougher than that, and she composed herself to ask, "So, do you have fake names for us or something? So nobody can come looking for us and sell us to the freak show?"

Anne's carefully manicured hand slid across the wooden desk, her jacket making a _siffft_ing noise as it rubbed up against the hard surface. Under her fingers was a unmarked file, yellow, but brand new.

Surprising her, Fang took the initiative and took the file from the agent. He must have noticed Max's hands shaking from anxiety and decided to act accordingly. His strong, sturdy hands began to flick through the contents, making sure Max could see exactly what was inside.

There was a picture of each of them. They were the ones taken just days ago, after they'd been scrubbed clean and their hair had been properly washed. And clipped to each photo was a small stack of crisp, white papers containing both their names, and the title of their new identities.

"Max," Anne started like she had rehearsed it before, "You'll now be going by 'Austen Shepard'. You were put into foster care when you were six because your parents died in a car accident. You had a three-year-old brother named Colten, and he died as well. Ella is your biological sister who survived along with you. I adopted you both when you were seven and she was five."

"Fang," she turned to look at him. "Your name is now 'Elias Iraj', or 'Eli'," she said, "You were put in foster care almost at birth because your mom was a drug addict, and you father wasn't in the picture. I adopted you when you were seven, about the same time as Max and Ella. You're Mexican/Iranian."

He raised an eyebrow. "What about the others?"

Walker rubbed her eyes, which were red from lack of sleep. She wasn't the type that wore makeup or anything, which was nice, in a way. This meant she actually had important stuff going on in her mind.

"Let's see…" she leafed through the pile. "Ella is now, of course, 'Emma Shepard', Iggy is 'Isaac England', and Marius…'Axel Wolfgang'."

Max actually laughed out loud. "Is 'Axel' supposed to be a Russian? Are you kidding me? And _Wolfgang?_"

"Swedish," Fang's corrective voice held steady amusement. "It's Swedish. Like he's a composer or something."

She grinned, and with heavy sarcasm said, "Well, in that case, let's keep it. Maybe he'll end up at Julliard!"

"Always wanted a big house," Fang echoed thoughtfully.

The agent wasn't so amused. She'd only spent hours the other night coming up with all of these. "Well, what would you suggest?" Anne asked, about on her last nerve. When was the last time this woman had a good night's rest?

Across from her, Max's hand rested upon the scratchy bandage which was wrapped all around her waist. Fang was watching her with a familiar look in his eyes, one that Anne had watched him observe only when in her presence.

"I don't think he'd like a name that had the name 'wolf' in it. Maybe something that suggests he's nice. Like 'Paul'," Max said seriously, noticing the woman who was adopting them and seeing her patience stretch like a rubber band. "Or David."

"Not David," Fang said quickly. "Call him Christian, maybe."

Max made a face. "That doesn't suit him. Luke?"

"That was my name."

"Well, 'Austin' was Ella's."

"Chase?"

"Ironic."

"Dylan?"

"Nuh."

"Well, you come up with something, if you're so picky. Why do you even care? You don't like him."

"I dunno. Greyson?"

Max laughed dryly. "Ha _ha_, that's ironic, too."

"Hunter? Gunner? Fido?"

"Oh, just stop."

"I got one – _Kevin_."

Anne was typing around on her laptop, the light of the screen casting a glow over her fair face and Roman nose. Max and Fang continued bickering like a couple of old people at a home that never got let out of their home. The look in his eyes was soft and kind.

Anne was biting her lip, and her blue eyes searched the page expectantly until she smiled a bit and said, "Japheth. It means 'handsome'."

"In what _lan_guage?" Fang asked, rubbing his face out of exhaustion. He looked at Max."Are we done?"

"Nearly," Anne said. "I personally liked the name Luke for him – what do you think? Add something normal, like…Montgomery?"

"Montgomery is not _normal_," Fang felt compelled to throw out there.

But Max frowned, sort of lost in thought.

"Luke Montgomery…" she repeated, thinking of the stupid name he'd been given back at the Institute, and how badly he deserved something much better, "I like it," she said, thinking that they should probably call it a night. Her back was sore, as was her side, where the bullet wound was still healing. She just wanted to sleep.

Across from her, Anne downed her second _5 Hour Energy_ drink and shook her head. It was a known fact that the berry flavored tasted the absolute worst, and that was what the agent was drinking. Her hands were shaking when she returned her fingers to the keyboard, making soft tapping sound while she tried to write, to fix the name of the broken boy she'd met only a while ago.

She pressed the _enter_ key once rather hard and slumped down into her cushy, leather office chair. "You guys can crash on that sofa over there if you want," Anne said absently, her eyes flickering across the room towards the door. The lobby was just outside, and no one else was in the office besides the three of them. Anne was busy working the night shift and picking up some of the extra paperwork tied to the discovery of the five. She'd probably be stuck dealing with it for the next several hours, which, admittedly, Max felt sorry about.

She yawned while Fang breathed a thank you for the both of them. His dark eyes were droopy from exhaustion, and Max could tell from his strides he was so tired he could have probably passed out. Fang led them both through the office door, placing his hand on the small of her back as if to make sure she didn't run into anything in her sleep-deprived stupor. He gave the room a quick scan out of habit.

The lobby wasn't anything special, though it was much nicer than the small hospital room they'd huddled in for the last week. A long sofa made of the same black leather as Anne's chair rested against the farthest wall. A couple of similar armchairs sat beside it on both sides, and a mahogany lamp table competed the cubic arrangement.

The smell of new furniture filled Max's nostrils. It was cold and unfamiliar to the both of them. But things could have certainly smelled a lot worse, so Max wasn't complaining. She'd spent too many nights laying in her own sick.

A worry about the other three in the hospital refused to leave her mind, and angrily lingered in a crevasse somewhere behind her brain. She wished Anne could have just brought a laptop or something so they could work a little bit closer to them, since she was almost irrationally afraid of them suddenly disappearing into thin air.

It _could_ happen.

However, Anne had said it wasn't going to be long before they would be able to move into her apartment, but Max couldn't help worrying about that too.

Fang had no trouble reading the emotions and thoughts flitting around behind her eyes. "They'll be okay. Itex isn't going to bother us anymore," he said soberingly.

She angrily sunk down into the couch. "And since when do we believe everything people tell us?" she asked, accusingly. The cool surface of the cushion gave her goosebumps and she was surprised at how cold it could really get, even in the desert. She couldn't remember if she'd ever read something about that in Lou's office. She probably had.

Fang's expression had softened. He touched her cheek, his thumb lingering close to her lips. Heat rose to Max's face, but was thankfully concealed by the dim lighting of the air-conditioned room. Why did he make her feel this way?

Gold flecks in his eyes twinkled while Fang half smiled at Max in that way he always did. "We don't," he whispered.

For an adrenaline-filled second, Max thought he was going to lean over and kiss her again, like he had in the hospital room, but he instead lowered her gently so she was laying down on the couch. His fingers lightly brushed a bit of her wavy, brown hair away from her face and, with a few seconds of what looked like conviction, he lay down on the floor next to her.

He never stopped looking at her, but she was the one who broke the eye contact. The darkness was making her paranoid, and she half-expected an Eraser to crash right through one of the four windows surrounding them. She could feel the lack of light, feel the unsatisfying amount of security she always yearned for which had never been replaced after the death of her only known parental figure.

Biting her lip, she dropped her hand over the side of the couch just inches from Fang's. He noticed, like she thought he would. Fang picked himself up off the floor and sunk into the sofa behind her.

"Are you cold?" he asked, his breath on her neck making her shiver.

She shrugged a bit, "A little."

"Are you frightened?"

His voice soothed the paranoia, but she hardly wished to admit it. Maximum Ride – _scared?_

He didn't need an answer to know. His unzipped hoodie was draped over her, and a protective arm secured around her, pressing her face into his shoulder, so she faced him. Fang's familiar, warm scent surrounded her, and she realized something: Fang made her feel like she was home. Home is a place where one can retreat to without fear of the monsters under the bed or the boogie man in the closet. Home is where it's safe, where it's warm, and where it's always secure.

"Fang?" she whispered.

His lips lowered to the junction where her neck met her shoulder, breathing her in, and she gave an involuntary shudder.

"Hm?" answered he.

She was going to tell him she loved him. But it wasn't the type of love that one hears about in fairy tales with princesses and a brave knights. It was the love that meant that nothing would ever separate it. The kind of love that when you both were kids, you pricked your fingers and let the blood run together, sealing a pact of friendship.

But she decided not to.

"Nothing," Max murmured. "I'm just glad you're here."

It was true, and she meant it. He could never know how much he meant to her, and what it meant to have him on her side.

He promised her something, and the tone of his voice told her that he really did mean it.

"You'll never be alone again. I'll never leave you."

* * *

><p>The next morning, the hospital finally discharged the five mutants into the temporary care of Anne Walker. The sky was clear as day, the sun barely rising above the horizon line, which was beyond the silhouettes of the tall city towers. A cool breeze tickled Max's face while she stood on the curb between Fang and Ari, who was in a wheelchair. She was happy to see him so alert and wide–eyed, and it was like he'd never had a glimpse of the outside world before, or was seeing it clearly for the first time. No lies to distort his visuals, no pills to corrupt his character.<p>

He was picking at a scab which clung loosely from the skin of his hand while the others waited expectedly for Anne to pull up with the _Land Rover _she'd traded for just a few days earlier. _Mini Coopers _were not exactly cut out for carrying five abnormally tall children to and fro for God knows how long. She'd wanted to get a minivan, but Fang and Ella had strongly discouraged it.

"Unless your kids are, like, a maximum of age eight and play soccer twenty-four-seven or you're a member of a horrifically awkward homeschool family…" El had smarted, "…no. Just, no."

Needless to say, they all breathed a sigh of relief as the new car rolled up to the curb. This was after several minutes of watching Iggy try to hide as many muffins as he could in his pockets and up his shirt.

"You know," Fang said in his deep voice, "maybe we should have gotten a mom-mobile."

"Or a short bus," El cringed.

Max shared a raised eyebrow with Fang.

Quite clueless to everything they had just mentioned, Marius sat with his arms up on the armrests of his wheelchair. He was staring aimlessly into the morning. The grey-brown hair on his head had now been cropped short, thanks to the pair of scissors Ella had so conveniently stolen from an unsuspecting surgeon patrolling the halls. A pair of sea-green contacts masked the unusual pigment of his irises, and he probably could have passed as a regular high school student. Minus the scars covering his arms and face.

Anne had even provided a change of clothes for him, so now he wore a white T-shirt and baggy jeans which she'd probably picked up at the Goodwill.

Sensing her staring at him, Ari's head turned to meet Max's eyes with his newly shaded ones. He wasn't very good at smiling yet, catching jokes, or even laughing, but his eyes told it all – the amusement, the excitement, the worry. A corner of one side of his mouth twitched up a bit, and Max beamed back. He was alive, and she was alive. They'd gotten here together.

That was a start.

Pretty soon, the green car glided up the black asphalt and came to a gradual stop. The front passenger seat window rolled down with a _whiz_, and Anne's shining smile greeted their anxious faces. "Good morning! Get in, I got all of your stuff delivered this morning. Got two hours of sleep and a lot of espresso."

It could have easily been the caffeine and added insanity of sleeplessness, but Anne seemed much more excited to see the five of them than they were to see her. But Ella took the initiative and opened the passenger door for Ari to awkwardly scramble into. He put all of his weight on El while she took his arm and led him to the seat, making a face which conveyed a certain degree of extreme pain. The others clamored into the back seats.

Iggy got carsick if he couldn't feel air conditioning, and Ella would probably be the best near Ari, so the two leaders were exiled to the back seats. Ella and the four-year-old Eraser were getting along much better than Max would ever have ever guessed, and it genuinely surprised her every time El sent a smile in his direction or touched his arm to make sure he knew she was right there. He had this wild, caught-off-guard expression every time he saw her grin, and tried his best to mirror it every time. It was pretty cute, and Iggy was incapable of noticing everything. It worked out.

Once the door slammed shut behind Ella, Anne reminded them all to put their seat belts on, and then they were moving. It shocked Max how alien riding inside an automobile felt. The last time she had set foot inside a car was over three years ago when Lou had taken a huge risk in order to take the three of them to see a movie at the theater an hour away. He'd made sure to pay in cash to ensure they wouldn't be followed, and he'd even 'borrowed' a license plate from someone in a local parking lot. And so now as they whirred through the streets of Las Vegas, Max clutched her seatbelt with shaking hands that remembered the car ride that had brought her freedom from the Institute that first time around.

Fang noticed, concern written all over his face at her white knuckles. "You okay?" he mouthed so that the others couldn't hear.

She focused on the street below, the lines appearing to flash on and off like a blinker while the car sped past them. The air in the car had begun to feel stuffy.

Max didn't reply to him.

A seat in front of them, Iggy's face was pressed up against the glass for no apparent reason, and El was pointing things out to Ari as they drove by. Max turned her attention to what was going on outside of her window.

The desert in Nevada was one of the bleakest landscapes she'd ever set eyes on outside of Death Valley. Somehow, this city had turned the sun-scorched area into an oasis of palm trees and gambling. They drove for quite some time before the city was finally out of immediate sight and a patch of suburbs and apartments started to come into view. All of the houses looked nearly the same. White with more palm trees and yucca plants, and the occasional well-watered lawn. Was probably killing the environment around it, she recalled, thinking of a book she had read some time ago.

Anne flicked a left turn signal on and they turned off onto a separate road that took them farther away from the close-knit homes, and into an area where the lots were maybe five acres each. A gorgeous view of the Sierra Nevada mountain range became visible.

It was amazing, and Iggy felt the need to address this in the most appropriate way possible. "Nevaaayduh is shore purdy. The land is _beeeauteeful_," he drawled retardedly with his face pressed against the window like a St. Bernard.

The look on Anne's face was priceless. Max had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at her, while Fang's eyes crinkled in amusement. Ella didn't even attempt to contain herself while he continued to make increasingly brainless comments about passing landmarks.

"Uuurmadilloe!"1

"Rork! Urts ur rork! UUURN."2

"Lurk ayt dur sky! Hurt urr burlurn!"3

"LLAMURS."4

The car drove on for what seemed like eternity in the hot morning sun through endless array of randomly built homes. Several small bikes and chalk-decorated driveways indicated where children lived, and nice sports cars in front of garages showed where wealthy old folks had so geniously decided to retire.

They finally pulled into the driveway of a picturesque home with "6580" labeled over the front door. It was, from what she could tell from her _extensive_ knowledge of real estate, two stories tall. It was a very large cube with a pointed roof, and completely painted white, save for a very, very red door. Rolling hills behind it were dotted with speckled colored cows, some with calves trailing behind them. A white duck wandered around a garden of colorful tulips, a red collar around its neck and a gold ID tag.

It was like a scene that belonged anywhere in the world _but _Nevada, and yet here it was, and Max fell in love with it instantly.

The five piled out of the car so fast that Fang fell face-planted onto the gravel drive.

"Ex_cuse_ you," he spat at Iggy, who couldn't see anything anyway.

"What's it look like?" the ginger was demanding, an arm around Max's neck, nearly choking her. "You're not saying anything – that could be good or bad."

Ella's excited eyes met hers as Max replied with a genuine grin on her face, her dislike for Anne completely forgotten in the moment.

"It's wonderful, Ig. Like paradise."

When she lifted his hand to her face, he could feel her smiling.

* * *

><p><strong>1. Translation: "Armadillo."<strong>

**2. **Translation: "Rock! It's a rock! ANNNE!"****

**3. **Translation: "Look at the sky! It's a balloon!"****

**4. **Translation: "LLAMAS."****

**So, did you listen to that song? Here's another, "Satellite Kites" by Beautiful Eulogy. It's the weirdest album titles and stuff being switched around, but that's the track name, and that's the artist. **

**Yeah, so anyway, I'm going to be out of town for the next week, so I may or may not have internet access or time to write. No promises, but I will _try_ and get a chapter out within the next week or two. I'm sorry, I've just been really busy! **

**Review please? This chapter took me...at least five hours. Pretty please? **

**God Bless,**

**~Steph**


	16. So Dreadfully Friendzoned

**Hey! Sorry about the spotty updates...I've been in Yellowstone, and then my laptop broke, so I've been confined to the downstairs desktop which I share with my mom and brother. So, writing time has been tough. But, lo, I have managed to wrangle this out of my brain the last few days, so be happy :)**

**In other news, I drew a pretty awesome picture of both a morphed and un-morphed Ari. I might post it on my blog, which you can get the address from on my profile. **

**I'm trying to get this posted before I leave for work, so I haven't edited the last half of this. Be warned - terrible grammar could lay ahead. **

**School starts next week D: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.**

* * *

><p>"What are you doing in there? Waxing your <em>mustache<em>?"Iggy's frustrated voice filtered through the slab of wood which separated a very saturated, soaking Max, who was wrapped tightly in a freshly laundered towel. She'd just emerged from a very glorious, long, and wonderful hot shower in the new bathroom she was now sharing with Fang and Iggy on the top floor of Anne's fabulous hacienda. Ella shared with Anne, and Ari had his own, which had been modified for his previously handicapped state. He was all better now.

She held a brush she had not bought herself in her right hand as she straightened out her semi-curly hair, which in its hydrated state appeared dark brown. It hadn't been five minutes since she'd gotten out of the shower, and now this idiot was going to sabotage the few moments of free time she had to herself.

_Right. _

"I'm naked!" she yelled back at him, inspecting her face for blemishes in the fogged-up mirror.

"I'm _blind_!" he said patiently.

"No kidding, are you sure?"

"Can I come in?"

"No! Go die!"

Max could practically imagine the face he must have been pulling when he crowed miserably, "Fang, _my heart has been injured_...I need a hug."

A muffled protest around the corner in the hall reached her ears, and Max smiled at her reflection in the mirror. Something banged hard into the wall outside, which made it pretty clear that someone had been tackled pretty roughly. Either Fang had been forced into embrace without his consent, or Iggy had totally ate it due to the torrential wrath of the moody latter.

She couldn't believe it'd been almost a week and a half since they began their unwilling stay with the FBI agent, Anne Walker. In some respect, Max was grateful to the woman, but in others, she was sick of being forced to refer to her family by names she didn't like. It was as if they'd been forced to become people that they weren't, and were expected to act like normal human children when they had no idea how to.

Ella seemed to be adjusting the best out of all of them, snapping into Camp Adoption much faster than any of the others. She was used to this whole thing - staying up only until Anne told them to go to bed and getting up when she knocked on the door in the morning, cleaning her room, making conversation.

And most irritatingly, the negative feelings Max felt towards the smiling, blonde, single woman didn't seem to be completely shared by everyone else. But she was seeing things in a much more negative way than the others. It was all too perfect. Like, none of them were allowed to share spaces because there were pre-prepared rooms for each of them to stay in. And even those were eerily well-suited! Iggy's had cool colors which he could sense (in a weird, defying-science sort of way), and Fang's contained an enormous bookcase stocked full of everything _but_ fiction. Ari's had several windows which easily allowed him access to the sun which he had such an affinity for. He was also given a telescope through which he could search the universe, the galaxies he could never understand. Everyone liked Anne so damn much. Anne! Who considered a power bar and an orange-flavored sports drink an acceptable breakfast.

_Please. _The woman had so much to learn.

Max sighed and bent to retrieve the newly-washed pajamas she'd been given the week before and reluctantly pulled them on. Her feet felt the soft green bath mat, which reminded her so much of when she used to bathe in the lake. When she could feel the soft breeze on her face and inhale the sweet scent of the grass growing on the shores. She missed it. Everything here made her want to go back, but she'd already been told the cabin had burned to the ground, along with all of their memories, everything that they'd held onto since their original caretaker had left them. Everything but the photograph Ella had snatched before that too crumbled.

_And Lou_. She missed him most of all. Easily, she'd give up her right arm to trade Anne for his smiling, shining face. Those green eyes she longed to look into, and that embrace she wished she could have wrap around her just one last time.

_Pull yourself together._

Now clothed in a soft fabric T and short athletic shorts, her hands found the darkly stained door handle which released her into the abandoned hallway. She grabbed the frame of another doorway and swung herself into the silent dormitory of which belonged to Fang. He had an almost invisible smirk plastered onto his face, something that was invisible to everyone but Max. He was proud of himself, and Max quickly related that he'd been the one doing the tackling, and the small spot of red which she'd seen on the wooden floors outside had been blood which Iggy had rightfully paid for.

"So I take it you don't approve public displays of bromancing?" she asked, arms folded, as she leant against the wood of the door she'd closed behind her.

Fang's dark eyes flicked up at her, no longer covered by the mop of hair he'd worn for several years. He'd received a forced and "real" haircut several days before, and it was now relatively short, but still had that emo/scene style going. He insisted it wasn't emo, but all the same, Ella had showed him how to style it correctly with some gel and proper technique. Which, Max had to admit, made him look all the hotter.

...She didn't just think that.

"Breaking the rules," Fang tsked, licking his finger and flipping to the next page of the book he held in his hands. "You should know that it's not alright with the Anne-dolf for us to be in a room together...alone...with the door closed. God, Aussy."

Max rolled her eyes, flopping down on his bed, which had been made. Yet another thing that Anne had instigated. "Stop making us sound like we're having an illegal affair," she said. "And I can't tell you how much I _hate_ these new names.

He made an attempt to appear hurt, rubbing his neck like it was sore. "Ouch. What, do I not look like an Eli?"

"Not particularly."

"Well, you'd better be careful," Fang warned darkly. "'Cause, you know..._they're after us_."

"Ha, yeah, whoever 'They' are."

"Point taken, Wizard of Aus, yet we're still pursued."

She smiled. "Yes, in_deed_," her best British accent drawled. "Pur_sued_. By...someone."

"Yes, someone."

The book in his hands closed shut and Fang stood up to place it back on the shelf which had been organized with books in alphabetical order. It wasn't that way when she last walked in here.

"I think you have OCD," Max teased, mussing her wet hair with her hands so that it'd have more volume when it finally dried. Because she cared so _much_.

Fang frowned disapprovingly, shaking his head. "Woman, I do not approve of you wetting my bed."

"Don't you call me 'woman'," she gawked, continuing. "And I am not!"

A pair of feet outside the door loudly romped down the hall followed by shouting, disappearing in the distance with the accompaniment of Anne's voice yelling, "Keep it down, kids! Time for bed! Ten-thirty!"

Fang looked at Max, and they both struggled to muffle laughter.

"Does she not know that we're all right back up as soon as she goes to bed?" Max asked, making a inquisitive gesture with her hand. "I mean, we're _teenagers_."

To make her smile again, Fang mimicked the face she had been making without realizing it, and he grinned when he had accomplished just that. He wanted to do something, just with her, without the others. They'd had to deal with the constant distraction of the flock without taking a break to just be...them.

"Would you want to go flying tonight?" he asked seriously, watching her evenly. He didn't know where she was standing sanity-wise these days. The time she had spent at the Institute had changed her a bit, and the trauma she'd endured made her more bogged down than he'd ever seen her before. The serial number tattooed on her right arm stared at him from its location. Always staring, always reminding.

Noticing his hard gaze, Max moved her left hand so that it covered the horrible mark. Her eyes were gentle on his, and a light smile graced her soft lips. "That'd be nice," she said truthfully, and he knew immediately she had dropped the tough, sarcastic exterior she had been hiding behind.

He knew her. He knew she was pretending to be fine for the kids.

Fang's eyes crinkled, his version of a smile. "Meet you on the roof in twenty?"

"I'll be there," Max responded, giving him a genuine hug, her head resting on his chest for a brief moment before she disappeared through his door. Her scent lingered beside him as he turned away to change and grab some cash.

With his advanced raptor vision, the stars of the night sky appeared brighter than usual with the absence of cloud cover. He'd heard the shower running just ten minutes earlier, and figured Max might be a little late for their arranged meeting. He didn't mind - just being able to relax up where the air was fresh and clean, knowing that Max and the others were safe was enough to make him take time to thank whoever was looking out for them up there. He could see the switching stop lights in the distance go from green to red, and red to green, and caught the tell-tale police colors as they chased down a victim.

Finally, light footsteps sounded behind him, indicating his wait was over.

"Hey," Max said quietly. She was wearing shorts and a tank top with long slits cut down the back which exposed some of the skin around her wings.

He swallowed and stood up, giving her his trademark crooked smile, watching the familiarity fill her eyes, the complete trust she had in him. "You ready?" he asked, expertly keeping his balance atop the arch which formed in the center of the slanted roof.

"Hell, yeah."

Together, they soared long into the night, not particularly caring where they were going nor how long they were going to be out. It was just them and the air rushing crisply through their feathers, making their hair whip around like that Willow Smith song...on steroids. When Fang looked behind him, he could see Max's face, the expression more alive than he'd ever remembered it before as the moon illuminated her features. She was more beautiful than she'd looked in her entire life, he realized with a pang, all while he was so friend-zoned that it hurt.

"Any interest checking out the town?" he called over the rushing wind, indicating with his outstretched hand to the glowing lights not too far down from them. To the people below, they would have looked just like birds, but something told Fang that they probably weren't concerned to look up at the sky - too focused on the here and now, fuss and feathers.

Max shrugged as much as one could with her wings outstretched as they were. "Sure, why not?"

Ten minutes later, they were landed behind an abandoned building in the outskirts of Las Vegas. Somewhere where they could be sure to stumble across the wrong people if they weren't careful. Good thing we're practically living weapons, Fang thought. They were essentially angels of death patrolling their native territory.

Max walked side-by-side with him while they picked their way around concrete rubble and the occasional long-forgotten dumpster and closer to where lights could be seen. Several twin pairs of luminescence traveled down what could only have been a highway at high speeds not far from where they tread. The first building they encountered which had any trace of life was labeled, _Montoya's Pizza_ and exuded a mouthwatering aroma of baking bread.

The farther in they walked, the more inhabited Las Vegas became. This was probably because, well, it was_ Las Vegas_. But, unlike what Fang had expected, it was less dense and flashy, or at least on the outskirts. It was also marginally more sketch, but that was something he wasn't too worried about until they nearly ran through a group of black men wearing wife beaters and bandanas while they lit their cigarettes, or what may have been bongs. One of them smiled horribly at Max and said, "Hey, baby, lookin' _good_."

Instinctively, Fang's hand grabbed hers. He gave a look to the guy which probably could have killed him if he wasn't so doped up.

"Chill," Max said cooly, trying to pull away. "I can take care of myself."

But Fang kissed the hand he was holding while they walked on. "No you can't," he said huskily, "you need me."

And Max couldn't argue, because she knew it was true. He didn't see the blush which crept across her cheeks in the dark of the night as he lead them further into town. Sooner or later, an ice cream store cropped up and he shared a glance with Max. On the window they advertised _The Best Homemade Cookies in The World._

Fang felt for his wallet in the pocket of his shorts the hand not holding hers, and when he finally located it, gestured with his head.

"What?" Max asked. She clearly hadn't seen it.

Defensively, he just smiled and opened the door for her. "The best cookies in the world? You think they're telling the truth?"

Fang's hand was on the small of her back while he ordered one for each of them. When the warm, chocolatey goodness was finally passed between the seller and the customers, they shuffled out and sat on a bench against the wall near the other side of the door. A motorcycle with a sidecar and a dog wearing goggles chugged past, causing Max to grin warmly before she took the first bite.

"_Ohmygod_," she murmured. "These...these are _exemplary_."

"I con_cur_."

She moaned and shook her head. "I don't think they were lying. No, they were not."

"And how would you know the difference?" he asked, making a joke of their spotty upbringing.

She laughed.

* * *

><p>"Bombs away!" Iggy's voice crowed from somewhere above Max's head, causing her to look up suddenly expecting something terrible to happen, like the apocalypse. Instead, Iggy tucked his arms and wings in and plunged into the murky green water of the slow moving river after flying into the air several feet. His impact rained droplets onto the book she'd borrowed from Anne's library.<p>

"Hey!" Max yelled, causing Ella's musical laughter to fill the air of the late afternoon. She and Iggy slapped high fives.

Beside Max on a separate lawn chair, Fang gave her a glance which they interpreted different ways. Fang deviously took the opportunity to steal a sip of her lemonade, which had been freshly made just an hour before by the same caring woman who had allowed her to use her own literature, making Max scowl at him disapprovingly.

"You already drank yours!"

"Yeah, and now I'm drinking _yours_."

"My saliva's all over that."

He laughed. "And you think I care why?"

"Because we've now essentially kissed, and that is incest, dear brother."

"Whatever," he turned his attention back to the copy of Aristotle he held in his rough, calloused hands which bore the scars of the rescue just three weeks prior. The books were all fairly old-looking, bound in hard covers with pages lined with a gold finish. The same copper engraving labeled the bindings. Hers, _Pride and Prejudice_.

"How come you're reading that one again?" Fang asked as he checked his watch. He returned Max's beverage to its place on the picnic table after stealing yet another sip. "Haven't you memorized it by now?"

"Okay, I'm sorry if I have a favorite book," Max's brown eyes narrowed at his jest, and she returned them to the passage she'd been previously absorbed in.

Ari was sitting in another chair on the other side of her, his eyes closed, and reclining all the way so he was stretched out on his back. Without his shirt on, the numerous pink scars which marred his skin were all completely visible. His legs were unable to lay flat on the plastic rungs of the seat. He'd surprised all of them earlier by showing off his fishlike swimming skills, and Ella had asked him to show her some techniques, though she already knew how to keep herself afloat. Iggy also had humored the new family member by teaching him how to dive, and how to accomplish a cannon ball. It was amazing to see the three getting along so well, and frustrated Max that Fang could not oblige in the same way as the others. Always keeping his distance, never speaking to Ari unless he had to, and never making eye contact. The worst part was that he never left her alone with Ari, and made it very clear to the Eraser that he was not welcome close to her. She was flattered that Fang was so protective, but horrified at what it did to Ari. It just wasn't fair.

Ari's new sea-green eyes opened a crack, guarding against the bright sun above, and looked over towards where the girl he had rescued was situated. "What's that book about?" he asked in his quiet, deep voice.

It was a question she had not expected him to inquire, and so she gave him a small smile. "Um, it's set in the eighteen hundreds in England," she said, trying to word her response so it would make sense to him. "It's a girl who does not want to marry the man who loves her because she thinks she knows who he is."

Max didn't see the way Fang's jaw set while he glared at the young Eraser, and the way his dark eyes flickered back to Max as she gave her answer to him.

"Why?" Ari asked, genuinely curious. He was always eager to learn about new things, which she thought was encouraging. It meant he was human.

"Because she's prideful," Max shrugged her shoulders, "And so is he."

"And prej…_prejudiced_, was it?"

His confusion startled her into another unexpected grin, which made Fang grip the armrest of his chair much harder than necessary. His anger was rising. "Yes, prejudiced," Max said, "She's prejudiced against him. It means like, to have jumped to a conclusion about something and not budging up on your opinion of it whatever the _evidence_ against your stance."

This was, of course, directed at Fang, who gave a loud exhale as he crossed his arms over his muscular chest. He was dressed to swim, but he hadn't bothered to even touch the water since he was busy doing the job that no one else thought was needed. But to him, it was like having a pet tiger. You can raise it, teach it to use the bathroom outside, and let it sleep in your bed, but there's nothing to stop its true nature. It's a wild animal, and wild animals are dangerous. It could easily slice your neck open while you're not looking.

"Eli, you should get in the pool," Max suggested. "You like to swim – I know you do. You're acting all tense and weird."

"I'm not leaving you alone."

She grabbed his arm, so hard that it actually hurt. "Why can't you just _deal_ with him?" she hissed under her breath. "You owe your life to him just as much as I do."

Fang leaned in closer. "The minute _he touched you_," he retorted, his face so close to hers that he could have kissed her, but he didn't, "Drugged or undrugged, I stopped trusting him. Deal with _that_. I'm not leaving you alone."

His eyes locked on hers, and he leaned back in his chair again, never letting her gaze drop until she voluntarily ended it herself.

"Luke, you want to go in again?" she asked the Eraser, whose calm features immediately snapped out of whatever daze he had been engaged in. He loved laying out in the sun, much like a dog, and it never failed to amuse her how he could just fall asleep after seconds of getting comfortable.

Ari's oversized muscles rippled as he pulled himself to his uncoordinated feet and he gave her what he had developed into a half smile in the time that the five had spent at the Walker's estate. She returned it and stripped down to her bikini while Fang averted his eyes. "You coming?" she asked him over her shoulder while she stretched her brown and white speckled wings out from the last hour of sitting.

Fang took the opportunity to down the rest of her lemonade in an attempt to spite her and told himself to suck it up, having the strong-willed spirit that he did. He could ignore Ari as long as it took for Max to understand, and he didn't really want to spend the time it was going to take sulking until she did. Which was why he took that opportune moment to wrap his arms around her skinny waist and effortlessly carry her to the edge of the pond, all while she kicked and screamed with all that was within her.

She and Fang had never had so much skin-on-skin contact, and her face flushed deep red as she fought. "_Put me down!_" Max punched his back with all the force she had, yelling. "FANG I SWEAR IF YOU DO NOT PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT YOU WILL NEVER HAVE CHILDREN."

"Breaking the rules, _Aussy_," he said calmly, smiling, "That's not my name. And we already have a child, remember?"

"Pilot Inspektor..." Iggy said under his breath to Ella.

Not breaking her protests, she growled loudly.

But Fang did not put her down, and he had no intention to. In fact, his intention went more along the lines of getting her back for eating at him. The muscles in his arms stood out as he held her over the water's edge watching her with a look of pure amusement while she struggled. And then, without warning, some unseen force pushed both Max and Fang into the water, causing him to fall over top of her as they were plunged into the river's calm abyss. While Fang struggled to surface, Max kicked him hard in the stomach, causing him to inhale a bunch of water and start to heave. He finally regained control of himself enough to break the glass shell which had become his underwater cage and came up to air coughing uncontrollably. Everyone was laughing at him – even Ari, who was at the edge of the water. He must have been the one who pushed him.

Fang glared.

When the group finally returned to the house, everyone was nearly all dried, with the exception of Fang, who'd been pushed in an extra time by an angry Max right before they all took off. Iggy had taken the liberty of trying to dry his head off while they were about to walk through the back door into the kitchen. Sitting at the table having a cup of decaf black coffee, Anne looked up from her newspaper and smiled.

"Hey, how was the river?" she asked. "What's Isaac doing to Eli?"

Fang turned around and punched Iggy in the face, making him fall over backwards into the bushes. "_Aah!_"

Surprised, Ella looked at Max. "Well, that simplifies things."

"Eli's having a bad day," Max explained to their caretakers. "Bro problems and all," she bumped her fist to her chest twice...like a man.

"I see," Anne said, not even bothering to scold him. "Well, there's chocolate chip cookies on the stove, and if you want some milk, it's in the fridge - if you want them."

Fang's eyes caught Max's.

"Hell _yes_," Iggy sprung up from behind the foliage and grinned through his bloody nose.

* * *

><p><strong>Iggy moments make the world go round. <strong>

**~Steph**


	17. Taming the Lost Boys

**I'M NOT DEAD. **

**I would like you to know that. I'd also like you to know that I'm very sorry for not updating this whole thing sooner than now, and I'd like to tell you that I seriously suck. It's my senior year of high school and I'm working two jobs during the week was well, so time has been sort of tight. **

**But, thankfully, I've finally had the guts to tell my boss at the Mexican restaurant that I'm putting in my two weeks and I'm going to be quitting.**

**But, anyway, here is a new chapter for you that's superfreakinglong and took thirteen pages in Microsoft Word, so rejoice and be happy and all that. Also, review, because if there's anything that keeps me writing, it's your reviews. Big thanks to _pancakes-for-you, JealousMindsThinkAlike, flyonfan14, Copper Phoenix, _FANGLES FANTASTIC MY BFFFFFFFFF (aka, the _shit_)_, __dancingonmytoes13, TheMockingJay-Nevermore7, _and (drumroll), _The Wolf Who Walks__ Alone_, who's basically the best reviewer/inspiration on the face of the planet. Check her out. **

**Enjoy Yo'self!**

* * *

><p>"You know, Anne, for a person who's never had kids, you're a surprisingly adequate cook," Iggy said, his mouth big so full it was a wonder he could even breathe, let alone speak.<p>

Blushing slightly, Anne gave him a little smile, hair wild from an early shower after her daily run. Anne's sharp blue eyes met Max's, making the her jump a bit, surprised. "Thank you, Isaac," she said, voice elongating, a pile of official-looking papers underneath her fingers, which were neatly manicured. "It's my grandmother's recipe, you know, with a secret ingredient. This place was a bed-and-breakfast in the early forties."

Max raised an eyebrow.

"Well, whatever it is," El said through crumbs, "They're, like, Martha-Stewart-worthy."

This made Anne sit up a little straighter, brushing a strand of hair out of her face with the back of her index finger, and tapping the pen she held in her opposite hand on the table like a metronome. It squealed as it danced across the white sheet before her, inscribing expressions with a cursive hand.

"Thank you," she beamed.

"Didn't Martha Stewart go to prison?" Iggy asked innocently.

Nobody listen to him, instead observing the cattle grazing on the fields right outside the kitchen window and cramming their mouths with maximum cookie-carrying capacity.

"I like your handwriting," Max said without meaning to, as she watched Anne's smooth hands carry ink across the paper, making Fang give her one of those '_Are you crazy?' _sideway glances which made her want to smack him.

She kicked him under the chair, his eye twitched.

But Anne visibly softened at the words, giving Max the most genuine smile she'd received since they'd first met in reaction to the kindest words Max had said to her throughout the entire three weeks.

"Really? Thank you?" she inquired curiously, like something about Max and writing just didn't click, weird and frayed.

Max had set her jaw, scolding her brain so ferociously that Fang kicked her back in order to get her out of it. Images had whirred from the dark recesses of her memory, the images of journal pages, old, yellowed, and mended back together with Scotch tape. Cursive etchings, black ink, words.

And then the doctor's face.

Breathing hard, she dove back into reality, like ice water had been splashed onto her face without her having the reflexes to dodge it. She shrugged, unable to to purge itself of the sudden flashback.

"It's easy on the eyes," Fang provided helpfully, like the second-in-command he really was.

Anne blinked. She opened the legal binder on the table to slip the sheets back inside before snapping it shut. The five children continued reaching for more cookies, unashamed and not stopping. El's chair skidded back with a screech while she advanced to the fridge, emerging again with the carton of milk to refill their now empty glasses.

"You all finished your placement tests, am I correct?" their caretaker asked with a huff, finally finished herself with the piles of paperwork that needed to be completed in order to get the kids going. There was everything to new birth certificates to false medical files. Her eyes were sunken in from exhaustion.

Anne's question was answered by a collective murmur from all five, all aside from the broken boy with a cane resting beside his knee – the one he'd forgotten when the children had trekked down to the river for a swim. He stared at the empty plate before him with a vacant expression, eyelids ever twitching from the color contacts he'd never quite gotten used to.

"Luke?"

The opal eyes flicked up,blinking more than really necessary, though he couldn't help it. "I didn't do it," he said, gaze returning to the plate, dead spirit in his deep voice. "I...I can't read."

Nobody said anything.

Anne's hand gently settled upon his folded ones, and for the first time, Max realized how different he was going to have to handle the new situations at school.

"I'm sure that's not true," El's soft voice soothed, "You read that picture book to me the other night, do you remember?"

"Pictures…" Ari trailed off, swallowing hard, made uncomfortable by the touch of Anne's skin, embarrassed by the way the woman was addressed him. Nobody ever touched him, ever. His wolfy hands jerked out of hers, his body was shaking visibly. "Words. Letters, numbers, writing, I can't _read_, Anne, where did _you_ grow up?"

"Ari–" Max started, about the same time as El stood up from the table, wiping the chocolate from her mouth. Ella put both her hands on the Eraser's shoulders, her brown head bending to his ear as she tried to calm him down. Everyone in the room except Anne understood, but that wasn't something Max wanted to share.

Max had turned towards Anne, hands folded against her lips while her elbows rested on the table and, eyebrows furrowing, slowly said, "He gets blackouts when he gets stressed out. Kind of like Fang," she lied smoothly, "He just needs to relax – El-ma will take care of him."

Iggy snickered. "Elma…" he muttered.

"Aaalma," Fang repeated.

The blind kid's shoulders shook with laughter.

Max's fib was slick as ice, but spread like frosting upon the limited information the agent knew about the five, and Anne didn't raise any further questions. However, she then disclosed a couple of words that seemed to shake the kitchen by its very foundations.

"The reason why I asked," she said, clearing her throat, "was because I enrolled you all in school."

Dead silence. And then the arguments sprang up as soon as the full weight of the statement set in.

"_What?_" Max screeched, throwing her chair back . "I thought you and I talked about homeschooling! You said homeschooling was our best option!"

"You said we'd all talk this through _together_," Iggy shouted nearly at the same time, pointing a fist down on the table as hard as he could and creating a dent.

Fang was characteristically quiet, as he generally was in times of incredible tension. Times like now, when all he wanted to do was take Anne's perfectly styled hair in his lethal fists and smash her face against the mahogany wood repeatedly until her face was no longer recognizable from the mess of blood and gore.

But that wasn't exactly socially acceptable.

He took the last cookie and said nothing.

"Max," Anne was trying to reason over the noise of the others, hands up for silence that did not come, "We _did_ talk about this, and I said I would _think_ about homeschooling, but your family's case has made it difficult to find any time between legal work and, important things like feeding you, taking care of you, and getting an adequate amount of sleep."

Max's face flushed and her hair was wild like a feral child, which she technically was. She looked as if she was going to explode with rage, but Fang grabbed her arm and tried to jerk her back into her seat.

"_Sit_ down," he ordered tersely.

When she didn't, he forcefully grabbed one of her back pockets and made her. Max's eyes resonated with betrayal that he was more than capable of handling. Iggy was eating his napkin, and Max angrily snatched it right out. He looked a little lost for a moment and reached for a cookie that wasn't there, and, realizing it wasn't, he left his outstretched arm on the table while he planted his face on the tablecloth, moaning.

Anne tried not to stare as she addressed Max again.

"Max, I don't want to sound like I'm betraying you–"

"Like _hell_, y–"

"–Let me _finish!_" Anne ordered like a real mother. _Honey badger mode: activated._ "I want you to have the normal life that you should have had. I want that for _all_ of you. You need to learn how to survive in the real world, interact with people your age, learn and... I don't know, if we're optimistic, maybe you'll all go to college in a few years.

"I just…want you all to be…" she sighed, "…happy. I want you all to feel like you're normal and that you fit in, have your first kiss, go to prom, get on honor roll."

Her attention turned to Max, the leader of this circus caravan, pun _intended_. Her eyes begged an answer that Max wasn't sure she could give.

"Doesn't sound that bad to me," El's voice sounded behind them, making Max have to turn around to see her leaning against the door frame. "C'mon, Max."

All eyes were on the leader, who shared a long glance with Fang trying to gain support, but instead found an indifferent composure she didn't fancy. God, he was so stubborn. They _all_ were.

"It might not be so bad," he said honestly. "I mean, if Iggy can learn to read Braille in an hour flat, maybe we're not a lost cause."

Max scooted her chair out with more force than was needed, exhaling deeply.

"Okay, whatever," was all she said before she left the head.

* * *

><p>"Wanna go to dinner?" Fang's head peeped around Max's door later that evening after the shower in the bathroom had finally stopped pouring, indicating he'd finished.<p>

Swiveling around in her comfy, black office chair, Max's raised eyebrow brought no surprise to her friend's face, and instead, he gave her a smile.

"Since when are you so forward?" she countered, the Jane Austen book open in her palms. "And why are you not wearing a shirt? God, Fang, put some clothes on."

He rolled his eyes, "Oh, you_ like_ it," he chuckled, closing the door behind him with a _click_ and crossing his arms over his chest. "And, no, not like that. All of us. Anne's treat."

Max was having trouble not staring. "So, she trusts us in public now?"

"Evidently."

She bent over the desk, huffing, exasperated, and searched for something that could serve as a bookmark "Give me a minute to put some shoes on," she said, brushing her hair away from her face.

Fang nodded rhythmically a few times, tapping his bare heel against the door frame, noticing one of his shirts in the corner of her room and raising an eyebrow. He picked it up and pulled it on over his head, noticing a slight blush on Max's cheeks.

"You might wanna…you know…run a comb through your hair," he suggested, smirking.

She looked up at him, eyes wide. "You didn't seriously just say that._"_

Grinning, he shook with quiet laughter, stepping closer to where she was bending down to tie a pair of Keds. His eyes met hers, wrinkling around the edges in that familiar way he did. "I did, and, sorry – you're fine, I was just kidding. Just…try to stop freaking out about the whole Anne thing. She's doing what she thinks is best.."

"She's taking my _job_ is what she's doing."

* * *

><p>"Can I start you all off with something to drink?"<p>

Acne marked and skinny as a bean pole, blonde-ass-waiter Kenny stood with an all-disheveled white shirt, like he'd just run a marathon up the Appellation Mountains without the decency to put on deodorant. It was pretty acute that he hadn't bathed in, like, at _least_ a year_._

"_What smells like…'fart of dying old man'_?" El whispered to Iggy, sitting next to her with his face all scrunched up.

"_I have one guess_."

"I'll have a Coke," Anne said politely, clearly oblivious to the fact that the kid taking their order at the fish fry place lacked basic hygiene capabilities. Between her hands was a menu, one covered in fingerprints and oil from the ghosts of meals past. She smiled at Kenny genuinely, making Fang point to the back of his throat while looking back at the other kids, who had to nearly swallow their utensils to keep from laughing.

"Sprite. With half a lime squeezed into it," Iggy managed with a straight face. His left eye twitched ever the slightest.

Kenny's voice cracked. "We can't do that."

"What do you mean you can't _do _that?"

"I mean–"

Iggy put his elbows on the table, and with frightening accuracy, looked right into the face of the waiter. His open hands made a sort of touch down motion with his pointer fingers and thumbs. "Okay, Kenny, calm down. I'm gonna walk you through this. Have you got a pen?"

"I–"

"Good. Step one: Locate a cup, any cup, and fill it up to the brim with Sprite," Iggy was listing these off as he shot down several fingers with emphasis as he arrived at each point. "Step two: Take half a lime, squeeze it in. Step three: Stop being a _dumbass_."

The adolescent began to make excuses, hardly coherent over the general gravitational force of his dental work. Iggy made one of those sassy, black girl hand motions that went in a Z.

"Oh no, you don't apologize, Kenny, ask the rest of these here folks what they'd like to drink, 'cause are done here."

Rapid fire.

"Orange soda."

"Root beer."

"Dr. Pepper!"

"Water?"

Kenny quickly gathered his bearings, scribbling furiously, and a blush adding red to his cheeks. He then got out of their way, causing Anne's head to whip around so fast that she smacked El in the face with one of her Texas-sized curls.

"What the hell was that!" she demanded.

Max frowned. "Our general lack of manners?"

"This is called a _fork_, right?" Fang asked, holding up the particular piece of silverware as if it was a foreign object.

"No, a dinglehopper," Ella provided helpfully.

"Your mom's a dinglehopper," Iggy muttered to himself.

"What's a dingle?" Max asked innocently.

Fang snickered. "And what does it hop?"

Iggy started to divulge, and Anne quickly excused herself to the bathroom.

* * *

><p>He closed his eyes again and again, only to open them to the sight of darkness. He couldn't sleep, which he thought was probably a result of the gallon of Dr. Pepper he'd ingested only a few hours ago. But that was just him trying to rationalize what the real problem was. He missed sharing the bed with someone, Max, knowing she was okay. It seemed all he did nowadays was worry about her, try his hardest to protect her.<p>

Fang pressed his face into the goose feather pillow. Nothing at Anne's smelled quite right, and it greatly bothered him that he wasn't allowed to be up out of bed later than ten-thirty. Not allowed to sit out on the porch to gaze at star constellations, nor unwind in a brisk night flight. From where his bed was in relation to the window, Pegasus and Cassiopeia glimmered, calling him out, taking hold of his hands and feet while he had to force himself to stay in place. There was no air conditioning, and no heating in this house, so the atmosphere around him was cold and uninviting. The light outside of his door, which was on to give Max what security she might need in the darkness, hummed fluorescently.

However, this night was interrupted as two quiet knocks rapped on the other side of Fang's closed door, so soft he wasn't totally sure he had heard them. Her breathing gave her away.

Fang sat up in bed, leaning his frame against the headboard while the door latch clicked shut again and Max's feet padded against the wood floors, cold from lack of insulation. Reflecting the dim light of the crescent moon, streams of tears dripped down her beautiful face and she muffled sobs with both of her hands. The side of the mattress dipped down underneath Max's weight. In an instant, Fang's arms were around her, pressing her head into his shoulder and pulling her body into his lap. It had been a nightmare, he was certain of it. They'd been happening for a week straight now, ever since the thunderstorms had wracked the skies with their anger, and lights flashed outside the windows like some of the tests she'd had to endure at the Institute.

They'd broken her.

It was then, in his arms, that he noticed that something was very wrong. Something warm and wet began to seep through his shirt, and it wasn't tears. Even in the dark, he already knew what it was.

"You're bleeding!" he exclaimed, reaching over to turn on his lamp. _What the hell?! What's…_

The tattoo Max had received of the bar code had been sliced multiple ways across the soft, supple skin of her wrist, like she'd been trying to get rid of it."What the hell were you doing?!" he demanded, trying to keep his voice down, but visibly livid. He scooped Max up and brought her to the bathroom, where he helped her out of her bloodstained shirt and wrapped a towel around her injury. There was so much blood that he didn't have the time to fully comprehend Max's half-naked state.

"Stay here, you got it? Put pressure on that."

Fang left the room and came back as quickly as he could with the first aid kit Anne kept under the kitchen sink, just in case of emergencies. He spilled the contents onto the shiny toilet lid, searching for antiseptic and gauze. Max's eyes were lifeless and dull, and her face drained of color. The tears kept spilling, just like the blood, and she wouldn't even look at him.

"What were you thinking?" Fang demanded, squeezing the contents of the sanitizing bottle onto her outstretched arm after removing the towel. "Look where you cut!"

She was an idiot, an absolute idiot.

Max's lower lip trembled at the severity of his tone, and he immediately wished he could swallow the words back up. "I wanted to get rid of it," she whispered brokenly. "They were…they–" and then her voice broke off again, and she was sobbing.

The gauze was dry in his hands, scratchy, while he wrapped it evenly around her wrist and tied it off with a thick layer of ACE medical tape. "You can't do this to me, Max," Fang said quietly, "You can't scare me this bad, it's not fair."

Her head just nodded, eyes streaming.

"You die when we die, Max," he said. "That's all there is too it. I can't live without you."

Fang let that sink in a bit.

"C'mon, let's get you to bed."

Scared, vulnerable eyes flicked to meet his. "No…" she grabbed his hand. "I can't – I mean, I need–"

He carried her back into his room and onto his bed. Fang cradled her face against his chest. "Was it him again?" he whispered after a long moment while she just cried, and he wasn't sure if it had to do more with the pain, or the memories that haunted her.

Between boughs, she nodded. Her body shook and her skin smelled salty with perspiration. A particularly hard sob made her clutch his shirt all the tighter, causing Fang's arms to tighten.

"Shh," he rocked her, kissing her cheek and resting his lips there. "Shh, it was just a dream. I'm here; you don't have to worry anymore. I won't let anything happen to you."

Her body pressed more heavily into his, the tears beginning to fade a little and her breathing becoming ragged, but more controlled.

"How about you lay down, love," he murmured softly. "Come on."

Gentle hands guided her so her body lay softly against the blue sheets, tucking the comforter, already warm from his body heat, over her shuddering shoulders. He curled his body around hers.

With warm arms now secured around her fragile frame and Fang's familiar scent surrounding, the hysteria eventually faded, and she was still. They'd never done this before – her nightmares hadn't been this bad until now – and despite the circumstances, Fang liked it, breathing her in, wishing he could tell her but knowing he couldn't.

"They were going to take our baby," Max whispered when he thought she was asleep, but she wasn't, maybe having the same thoughts as he was, maybe even the same feelings. But what she said drew him away from those thoughts.

Instinctively, as if he could protect her from everything in the world, he pulled her impossibly closer to himself. She held his hands in hers, tracing the lines which made up the creases and swallowed. "We had a baby," Fang said softly, his voice careful not to startle.

"They made us," Max nodded, "And then they took her. They were going to hurt her."

She turned in his arms so she could see him, look up at his face. His hands stroked her hair. "I would _never_ let that happen," he promised. "I'll never let them hurt you, and our baby will be safe. I mean, if we had one, it would be."

A smile tentatively blossomed on her face.

"Thank you."

He tenderly kissed her temple, her cheek, her jaw, her neck. "I will _always_ take care of you," he whispered.

She shivered, putting a hand on Fang's cheek, maybe to stop him from going any further. "I know," she said.

He rolled to the side, assuming his formal spot on the bed at the cabin, and she took hers. Before he drifted off to sleep, though, he felt her hand slip into his.

Early the next morning, Fang gently picked Max's sleeping form up from where she was nestled in a tangle of his blankets. Surprisingly, she hardly stirred at all, letting out an involuntary hum as he gathered her into his arms and kissed her hair. Sunlight was barely peeking up over the hills outside his window, leaving a shadow across his bedroom and creating highlights against Max's skin.

He effortlessly carried her through his bedroom door, and down the hall a ways to hers, which was already open, revealing the aftermath of the terrified night she'd experienced before seeking Fang's protection. Her lamp was knocked off of the bedside table, the lamp shade popped out of the finial and the harp bottom broken from the neck. Her down-comforter was all twisted atop her mattress, which was ajar from the rest of the bed. Fang stepped over the mess her laundry made on the floor and smoothly lay her back down into her bed. For a moment, he lay down next to her and relishing the warmth her body beside his. The side of his thumb stroked Max's cheek and he tucked a red fleece blanket under her chin, over her shoulders. When he grudgingly forced himself to leave, for fear of discovery, she whined in her slumber, rooting for him like a newborn child for her mother.

Sighing, he slipped his shirt over his head, hissing at how the bitter air chilled his skin. He draped it over her, and her hands found it, pulling it to her face. He gently kissed her cheek.

"I love you," he murmured.

* * *

><p>The next few weeks went by so fast that Max didn't have time to count them all. Before she knew it, she adorned a school uniform: a white button-down shirt, and a stereotypical black plaid skirt. A matching formal overcoat, with the school's coat of arms stitched onto the breast, fell over top of that, of which she was thankful – it covered both that ghastly tattoo and the scars that criss-crossed it.<p>

_Legacy Preparatory High School_, she thought. Ugh, it sounded so…official.

While she assessed her reflection in the mirror, trying to decide what to do with her hair so she didn't look like a complete dufus, Ella's head poked around the door, uninvited.

"Ella! What if I had been changing!"

"Dude, we're practically sisters. Chill. Your face off."

Max rolled her eyes angrily and pretended she'd been putting her school things together, which she kind of already had. "What do you want?" she grumbled.

Ella smoothed her skirt and adjusted her coat, fidgeting excitedly, her dark brown hair shining with a sheen many girls would probably kill their neighbor's dog for. "Well, we're leaving in, like, ten minutes," she prattled. "Thought I'd give you a heads up just in case – OOOH, your shoes are _amazing_! _I _didn't see those at the store! Did Anne – oh, I'mma hurt you-"

"El, focus, you're doing it again."

Brown eyes snapped to brown, shoes forgotten. Someone ran right down the hall outside and goosed El from behind, making her squeak like a chew toy. "ISSAC ENGLAND I WILL _MURDER YOUR ASS_," she roared, tearing after him and reminding Max that they had new names now. Shit, that was just what she needed – more confusion.

"But I _need_ that!" Iggy exclaimed. "_IT'S A BEAUTIFUL ASS_."

He swung himself over the last ledge of stairs to land on what Max just knew was the coffee table below, because it shattered and created a loud, echoing clamor. Laughter followed close behind. Anne shrieked.

Stealing once last fleeting glance over her shoulder at the floor-length mirror, Max gathered what textbooks that had been stacked on her nightstand and placed them in her canvas bag, which she swung over her shoulder. She left the room in a hurry, but in unfamiliar shoes, it was no surprise she managed to trip down the stairs onto the second landing.

"Still resisting your old combat boots?" Fang's voice filtered down from above her crumpled form, his own ones clunking on the wooden floors. Max sulked like a pigeon, considering her capabilities to dissolve into the floor in a puddle of her own nerves and pure, concentrated anxiety. In his white shirt with the black uniform pants, Fang was almost unrecognizable, but in a good way. It wasn't often that he chose to actually sport a bit of color here or there.

"Maybe you shouldn't have opted for that haircut," Max said lightly, stomach churning, "It's hard to hear you over your identity crisis."

"Ha, ha, you're hilarious."

His disappeared without giving her a help up.

"I hope you choke on your waffles, you bastard!"

Her feet thudded down the wooden stairs, and she tried to make sure her stupid flats didn't catch another antique edge. _Stupid, unneccisary, godforsaken–_

"Aussy?" the caretaker's voice carried through the vast hallways. Light was pouring through the golden curtains, mixing in the green room to create colors of an entirely different dimension. "Where's Austen?"

El's voice was full of sausage, the breakfast of champions, as Iggy had finally taught the nearly incapable FBI agent. But they had to give her a break – not everyone knew how to feed a household full of growing mutant children. "In the doorway, Anne," the girl said, wiping her mouth and taking a quick swig of her orange juice. "I'd cut your hair, you know. Your private eye could use some exercise."

Anne gave her a sour look. Ella missed her coffee.

"Punny," Iggy approved, giving her a deserved fist bump.

"Okay, you all need to hurry up and get your crap together," Anne was checking her watch nervously, a clear indication that she was as apprehensive about this day as the five children were. "We're going in five. Where's Luke?"

Max, minding her own business and attempting to stuff six frozen Eggos into a small sandwich bag, looked up over her shoulder to scan the kitchen. Fang was at the table devouring a large bowl of Greek yogurt with paramount grace and El was helping Iggy do the crossword in the newspaper, which was hard because neither of them could spell their way out of a paper bag.

Heels clicking in staccato, Anne disappeared around the corner, only to remerge behind Ari, propelling himself forward with the help of the new aluminum forearm crutches he'd received as compliments of the hospital in Death Valley. Max had helped them come up with a way for Ari to appear like a normal teenager on his bowed leg bones, which were scheduled to be reconstructed in no more than a month. Now under the influence of anti-anxiety medication, Ari'd now stopped morphing almost altogether. This in itself had nearly recreated him, and the changes the other five had seen in the young Eraser were vastly beyond encouraging. Though Max still didn't like the idea of being under the control of a bunch of adults with badges and monkeysuits, she did have to admit she was grateful for all they had done to improve Ari's life. He deserved it, and Max couldn't be happier.

Those new sea-green eyes of his caught hers as he clicked over to the island to collect his lunch. He gave her a charming smile, making her heart squeeze with joy.

"Could you put this in my lunch box for me, Em?" he asked.

She smiled broadly and hopped up from her place next to Iggy, whose ears pricked up as soon as the chair was scooted out of position.

"I'm going to go start the car," Anna announced as she twirled her keychain around her left index finger, for emphasis, eyes widening. "If any of you keep me waiting, you are _so_ grounded. First day, first impression, let's move!"

The door slammed, causing the frame to shake, and the decorative plates to tinkle on their stands. Everyone exchanged glances, and Iggy choked on his orange juice, making it spray out his nose onto the decorative table centerpiece.

"Oh my God," Max groaned running her hands through her hair, "Today is going to be a complete disaster."

"Need me to help you get your stuff?" El asked Ari politely, stepping over to him and re-doing his tie, which had been primitively knotted in the middle, much like a bandana.

The Eraser's cheeks reddened a little, Max noticed while she reached for the brown bag with her name scribbled onto it. "Um, sure…" he said. "Here."

Ella took Ari's backpack in her hands and swung it over her own shoulder, taking his lunch and stuffing it in.

"Your back hurting you again today?" Max asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Nah," he shook his head, and she immediately knew he was lying to her. "It's just my legs."

The smile reappeared, and Max couldn't keep herself from mirroring it. He'd be a heartbreaker for sure if girls could see past his disabilities.

"Car crash, remember?" Ella reminded him.

"Car crash," he repeated. "Leg injuries and memory loss – got it."

Behind him, Fang was even in an alright-enough mood to contribute. "Well, you can write your name now," he recalled, "So that should help things."

Ari shrugged, shifting his weight on the crutches. "I suppose. Just take it one step at a time, right?"

That was Ella's saying, what she always told him whenever he had to learn something new that was really difficult. "Right," she smiled.

Iggy's white fists pumped the air for no apparent reason while Anne honked her horn several times in a row. Max's supersonic ears could faintly make out her yelling incoherently while the rest of the flock filed through the door like Star Wars drones, while Max tried to make sure everybody had everything. A mental checklist. That was what was going to get her through the day. For starters, don't tell anyone anything. In fact, it would be better if she didn't talk to _anyone_. Second, eat what's in the lunch bag, nothing more. She didn't want to look like more of a freak than she already was. Also, no badmouthing the teachers or other students. Don't punch anyone. Don't freak out. Don't take the jacket off.

"Max, you coming?"

Fang's voice awakened her from the daze she didn't realize she'd been sucked into. Her eyes snapped to his and he gave her one of those rare smiles that made the world spin just a little faster, and a kiss on the cheek she wasn't expecting.

She took his outstretched hand in hers, allowing herself the small comfort in knowing her best friend was going to be there the whole time making sure everything would be okay.

They'd be okay. They would. They had to be.

The school looked nothing like Max had envisioned it in her mind. To be honest, she'd actually been picturing the Hogwarts Castle, complete with shadowy dementors guarding every entrance, sucking all the life and happiness out of the children. She was right about one thing, though – the hordes of kids, all dressed the same, clicking around tables, laughing, doing what she always saw kids doing in movies. But somehow, in films, she didn't imagine there'd be groups of scrawny freshmen sitting in a circle playing with Pokémon cards.

"Alright, _how_ old are they?" Fang asked.

"Do we have to get out of the car?" Iggy was whining, despite the fact he couldn't see zilch, his knuckles losing circulation because of how he held onto the coat rack above the Jeep's window. "I mean, there's other ways to learn things. For instance, I could have never have learned as much about cats as I did that afternoon I put the neighbor's in the microwave."

Anne grimaced, and turned around in the front seat to give them all a final look before she sent them off to their doom. "No, Ig," she apologized, "I'm sorry, but it's the law for you guys to learn _in a school. _Emma knows what to do, she'll show you – right, Em?"

A tight-lipped smile was all El could muster.

Unconvinced, Anne gave them what she thought must have been the most encouraging smile they probably had ever seen. Or anyone had ever seen on earth. Or ever.

"Alright, well…have a good day at school!" she chirped.

"I'll bet she's been waiting her whole life to say that," Fang muttered under his breath as their new nightmare began.

* * *

><p><strong>I forgot to mention something! I got cows! Me, personally, seventeen-year-old city girl gone rancher, I bought calves. Their names are Stewart and Grover, and they are adorable and fuzzy. <strong>

**Please make my hours of relentless typing worth it by taking a minute to review (^_^) Give me incentive to update sooner!**

**Thanks for reading!  
><strong>

**~Steph**


	18. Females: They're Everywhere

**Hey, everyone! Steph here with the next installment! I've had a crazy two weeks - you can't imagine how insane mid-terms can be. But, hey, I'm neglecting Government homework to edit and post this, so all is well. **

**Big thank you to these people for their ever-faithful reviews! I guys seriously rock! pancakes-for-you, Death-by-Curls, Ladybug3264, Guest, Esin of Sardis, ILOVEMEERKATS, flyonfan14, Copper Phoenix, Deryn Skyles, dancingonmytoes13, THE WOLF THAT WALKS ALONE, JealousMindsThinkAlike, and Fang 177. Thanks to all of you for your support to keep me writing! **

**This isn't my best chapter ever, but I hope you all enjoy it regardless. It was kind of just a chapter that needed to get posted. Bleh. Anyway, here you go! **

* * *

><p>It was like a zoo. Like, really, a legit zoo. A zoo swarming with acne-marked, pubescent, walking beanpoles with too much money for their own good. Everyone looked the same, mostly due to the uniforms and the fact that they were, well, whiter than <em>Aunt Jemima<em> pancake batter and redneck shin digs.

"Do I look like Edward Cullen?" Iggy asked Ella, whose arm was intertwined with his in order to show him where to go, and where not to step so he didn't, like, squash a freshman. "I feel like Edward Cullen."

"You don't even know what he looks like," Ella said through clenched teeth. She followed Max, Fang, and Ari through the decorated halls of LPHS, eyes flickering over trophies behind cases and artwork, that could use some serious critiquing, adorning the walls.

"Have you _read Twilight_?"

El pulled a face. "Uh, _no_, have you?"

"Maybe," he sniffed defensively. "In Braille. Last week."

"You embarrass me."

He smiled. "I know; I rather enjoy it."

Beside her, Ari clicked along on his pair of forearm crutches supposed to make it easier for him to walk. In the car before they'd gotten out, Anne had shot him a unsympathetic look once she noticed his titanium leg braces weren't on, and made them drive all the way back to retrieve them. She said the state wasn't paying for his reconstructive surgery if it didn't have to, and he rolled his eyes like any four-year-old child probably would have done when reprimanded. Except Ari wasn't exactly a child, and Anne wasn't exactly his mom, so as soon as the car was out of sight, off came the braces, and into the backpack they went.

El caught Ari's eye and he smiled uncertainly at her. He, along with every other member of the flock aside from herself, had never entered a school before. El could only imagine how much Max was freaking out right at that moment.

In front of her, the leaders of their small family's fingers were laced together as Fang tried to keep Max as calm as possible with his stable presence. Max's knuckles were completely white, matching the paled color of Fang's face.

"Calm thyself," Iggy said.

Max's fist clenched and she shoved it into the pocket into her jacket, perhaps keeping herself from strangling him. A ways in front of them, a person got up from behind a darkly-stained office desk, smoothing her white, starchy shirt with utmost precision.

"Are you the Walkers?" she asked when they became near. She was short, tweedy, and looked kind of like a parakeet.

Looking down at his feet, Iggy frowned. "Well, I suppose we're walk_ing_, so that would make us walkers…"

"You must be Isaac," She smiled a little as if she'd been warned, biting her lip and taking a look at the clipboard tucked up against her plump body. "Well, I'm pleased to meet you all. Really."

None of the children were very pleased to make her acquaintance, so none of them said anything. Her thumb momentarily pressed down on the metal clip at the top, papers rustling as they were whipped from their places.

"I'm sure you're just _roaring _to get back into school," the woman continued. "And Legacy Prep was an excellent choice, and from what I understand about each of you, you'll all make a great addition to the classes. I'm Mrs. Sutton, the school counselor, and you all are…?"

A small, white, wrinkled hand extended out towards Max, and El watched as Max slowly brought herself to take it and, with difficulty, returned the warm smile on Mrs. Sutton's face. "Austen. Austen Sheppard."

"Eli," said Fang monotonously.

Ari watched nervously. "Ar…um, Luke."

"Isaac," Iggy reached across the empty space between him and the counselor, accurately finding and shaking the hand extended. "But I like Zaac better."

Her blue eyes flashed in amazement. "I'll try and remember that," she laughed, clasping his hand a little tighter.

And finally, the name-calling came down to Ella. She hesitated. "Em."

"Wonderful! So, let's see, Zaac and Luke can come with me, and here are your schedules."

"Thanks," Ella replied, trying to make up for the collective lack of enthusiasm from her mates.

"And you other three, will you need help finding your classes?"

Max looked up at the woman, locking eyes. "No thanks, I think we can take it from here."

* * *

><p>"Do you know where the dictionaries are?"<p>

Fang's head shot up from the literature his face was buried in, dark eyes landing upon the face of a girl standing about two feet away from him. Both of her hands resting upon the table, she smiled sweetly. For a second, he didn't know what to say to her. The girl brushed a strand of hair away from her face, which was styled the same way every girl in the school seemed to favor.

"What?" he asked in response, confused, not sure what had prompted the girl's questioning in the first place. It was called _silent reading_ for a reason, right? Why would she be asking him something like that?

The girl shrugged. She had a small build, kind of like El, but had a fairer complexion and eyes the color of those blue-raspberry Otter pops. She pointed a manicured finger towards a shelf where at least forty Webster English Dictionaries were stacked. In doing so, she leaned forward, giving him a free peep show he hadn't been prepared for. He froze, suddenly feeling like he was caught cheating on a girlfriend he didn't have. "They're over there, if you need them," she said without pulling her shirt up.

Fang made a motion with his hand to indicate her immediate need to shroud her cleavage, but the girl didn't really notice. He could see now that she had been sitting directly in front of him while he had been doing the busywork Mr. Fletcher had assigned for the class period. He hadn't even seen her.

"Um, thanks…" he drawled, body language showing he needed to get some work done - pronto. Now. _Leave, godammit._

She flashed him a grin which must have been worth several grand in orthodontist fees. "I haven't seen you around before," she conversationalized.

"Yeah."

"You're new?" her voice got higher.

"Yeah."

"Sorry, this is probably really weird for you," the girl noticed his slight discomfort, the tensing of his shoulders and the guard in his voice. Good, maybe she'd noticed. "I'm Sam. Mind if I work with you? Fletcher said we could find a partner."

Um, that was _not_ what he meant.

For a moment, Fang thought about saying no. But then a little voice in the back of his head that sounded an awful lot like Anne urged him to do otherwise, move beyond his level of comfort. Sam looked nice enough, despite her problems covering herself up. Probably wasn't an Eraser, and looked to puny to be a double agent. Maybe he could nonchalantly shove the contents of the nearest tissue box down into the crevasse between her boobs. Would she notice that? She'd probably notice that.

Fang moved his books over a bit so the girl could smooth her skirt and take the seat next to him. "Eli," he grunted.

The girl was smiling like she'd just found her golden ticket. "Awesome! Okay, so I didn't quite understand this little bit here about why Scout–"

"Hey, Sam!"

There was suddenly a girl in front of both of them, wearing a scowl on her face that had to remind him just a little bit of Max. She had a long-sleeved shirt on, black fingernails, and a pretty face. A steaming coffee cup was in her left hand. "There's free espressos in the lunch room, but they're only available this period. You should, uh, go get one. Right now."

Sam's face lit up, and she looked at Fang. "Want one?"

"I'm good."

"I'll be right back!"

And then she was out of there like a light, veering around the doorframe, abandoning her work and books in the backpack she had dumped on the table.

The girl remaining just looked at him. "There aren't any free drinks, so don't go looking. I'm JJ, and you saw nothing."

"Eli."

"Eli? Nice to meet you. Run for your life."

* * *

><p>"Okay, everyone, I'd like you to open your textbooks to page four hundred and ninety-five, lesson seven-dash-three…"<p>

Ari zeroed in on the little black backpack he'd gotten from Wal-Mart the day before and watched as the other students around him quickly retrieved their own red math books, setting them on their polished wooden desks that reflected the florescent lights above. Beside him, his crutches lay on the floor, currently unused, and his strange legs hooked around those of the plastic navy seat he sat in. The lights around him reminded him of those he lives the first four years of his existence in, incandescent and overpowering. None of the other kids seemed to be effected the same way he was, but he wasn't going to let that stop him from showing them all up in knowledge.

Or, at least, that was the picture in his head. In actuality, he was having a lot of trouble even _reading _the text at all as the teacher lectured on and on about math. Numbers, he knew. He could deal with those and the basic principles of mathematics, since he'd been taught a version of this stuff before, in the different branches of Eraser training. _Algebra_, the class was called. In the corner of the shiny white board was written something in big, bold letters, underlined a few times, the date written below it, but he didn't understand any of it.

"Alright, does anyone have any questions about the homework before we get started?" the teacher asked, pacing in a purple shirt and black dress pants.

One hand shot up in front of him, and a freshman the size of a Chihuahua raised a hand. "Could you maybe go over parabola formulas again? I had some trouble with the ones on problems thirty and thirty nine."

"Okay, let's do that real quick. Alright, first you need to look at the equation and find out…"

Seeing that Ari had not done any of the homework because he had not been there, he merely focused on taking notes that the teacher wrote down. The numbers, they made sense to him. They made perfect sense. His hand gripped the pencil awkwardly, and he tried to copy the board as fast as he could. But muscles cramped quickly due to his arthritis, and he eventually had to give up, setting the pencil down with a loud clicking noise which made those around him turn heads. That didn't keep him from trying, though, and the entire class period, he was reduced to transplanting information from his seat partner into his own notebook, sharp eyes contrasting her handwriting with his. Later during the class period while they were free to continue working on the new homework assigned, she and a few of the other girls around him began to talk.

"What happened to your legs?" one with red hair and green eyes inquired, stewing over the crutches and the misshapen appearance of his shins.

The three girls were dressed all in the same clothes, and he was having trouble remembering their names. He thought the one who had addressed him must be Lexa, but he couldn't be sure. This was all just sort of hitting him all at once.

His eyes dropped and Ari shrugged his shoulders. "I was in a car accident last year. That's why I was having trouble copying Cally's notes."

Plastic seat squeaking slightly, his seat partner laughed musically. "It's Carly," she said for about the third time, and the other two girls giggled. "You're a junior this year, right?"

Ari nodded. "Yeah, that's right."

"So are we! Made any friends yet?"

He shook his head, ears broiling. "Nah, but my brothers and sisters are starting here today, too, so I'm not all alone."

"Are they all as good-looking as you are?"

Ari didn't know how to respond.

* * *

><p>The school was everything Max had always dreaded. Hallways thick and stuffy with the bustle of people, couples making out by the lockers, gum that'd been stuck on the carpet floor so long ago it had been effectively petrified, boys wearing black uniform pants off their butts, and, what was worst of all, girls. Girls with the same hair, same gear, same swag. She could practically feel ever once-over, girls deciding in under a second what they thought of her.<p>

It was kind of disgusting, actually. And it was strange; Max hadn't really spent much time with other girls her age. Sure, whenever she and Fang went out to retrieve groceries she'd seem them in the candy aisle looking at gum with brown _Ugg_ boots and leggings, straightened hair and too much makeup, but interaction? It had never happened. So Max tried to keep her head down and stay to a low profile while she adjusted her canvas bag on her shoulder, where it had been wearing heavily. She could practically feel the onset of scoliosis forming.

The paper schedule in her hand hardly gave her enough direction as to where she was to go when looking for her classes. It was like she'd forgotten how to count or something stupid like that, but in reality, she'd never been in a building of this size since she'd been contained at the Institute.

_Room 2304? Where the hell could that be?_

A young woman was standing outside an open door, and Max swam through the crowds of students, ducking while a larger boy wearing a black uniform jacket slapped high fives with another dude. Max put on her nice face, a lame attempt at a smile, and approached the lady.

"Excuse me," she started, "Could you tell me where 2304 would be?"

The lady screwed up her face. "I'm not a teacher."

A few boys behind her whooped, laughing hard and pointing at what Max now recognized as a fellow student. Max's face contained a mild look of surprise, and she neatly folded the schedule in half, turning on her heel and quickly walking away, cheeks burning. The halls finally cleared, indicating that the dreaded bell was about to sound its deafening drone. Max didn't know what to do. Her brown eyes scanned the ceilings for official-looking signs down the main hallway, which extended several passageways before coming to a stop at the cafeteria. _6000, 5000, 4000, 3000…_

Oh, and there it was. 2000, painted clearly in white paint against a black background. Her black shoes clicked on the unoccupied stone floor, echoing off of the walls which had been plastered with numerous banners proclaiming "_GO GET 'EM DEATH VALLEY BADGERS!"_

Gee, they sounded so friendly.

"Hey, are you lost?"

A voice behind her nearly made her jump out of her skin, and the books she had been carrying in her hands dropped to the floor with a loud clamor. Max erratically struggled to maintain her mess, setting the maroon Advanced Biology textbook atop the corresponding binder which had been labeled to match. The other girl bent over to assist without being asked to help, kindness Max had not been expecting from anyone at this school. After all, she _was_ the socially awkward freak who didn't know eye shadow from lipstick, or even a hairbrush from a garden rake. A white smile broke their silence, the girl handing Max the rest of her belongings that she had dropped, and her green eyes sparkling. "So, are you lost?" she asked again sweetly. She could be an Eraser. Could she be an Eraser? Erasers weren't ever this tiny, or lovely, for what it was worth.

Oh God, she'd just called something lovely. The last time Max had called something lovely was that time Iggy got sick on the tire swing and puked all over El's attire, ages ago. She needed to get her game together.

"Yeah," Max finally said after a long moment. "Yes, I'm lost. Where's 2304?"

Her hands were shaking like a construction worker on a jack hammer, and she hid them behind her books as much as she could.

Brushing some hair out of her eyes, the other girl smiled at her again. "Oh, let me show you. Are you new? I've never seen you around before. I'm Annika, what's your name?"

_Woah_. "Um, Austen, I…just moved here. From Colorado," Max lied through her chagrin, hoping her glib wouldn't easily be seen through.

"That's cool! Like, near Denver?" Annika didn't notice, and in fact, didn't question her further. She believed her, effortlessly, and it was astounding to Max.

"Sort of," Max equivocated, reading the signs next to ever door before the girl stopped so suddenly, Max almost ran into her.

Annika set her jaw and spoke whimsically. "That's funny, the four must have been rubbed off," she shrugged. "Anyhow, here you go."

The grin was back, and Annika actually stooped in front of Max to open the ancient-looking door for her, something of rare concurrency Max did not expect.

"Oh, um, thanks," she stuttered.

"No problem! Find me if you have any more problems, I'm the hall monitor for the morning since I finished all my accredited English classes already. Have a good first day!"

Max's teeth bit together, and for about the eighteenth time in the last two hours, she reminded herself that this was all for Ari – that he needed a structured environment to be fixed in. He needed back surgery, leg surgery, and emotional reconstruction and living like this was apparently the only way they could accomplish this.

Behind a big oak desk the color of soil, a short old man wearing a suit pushed his circular glasses down the bridge of his nose so he could inspect what had just walked into his classroom. Max gave an awkward little wave.

"What do you need?" he presumed, the book in his wrinkly, white hands closing, save for his thumb to hold his place.

"I just –," she started, trying not to notice the looks she was receiving from everyone in the room. "I'm new, and I got lost. But I'm supposed to be here, I think."

"I'm not expecting you."

"This _is_ English IV., right?"

Something like recognition flickered in his sky eyes, and he chuckled to himself. "I thought you were going to be a boy. Austen, am I right?"

Max tried to laugh along, play the part as well as she could muster. "That's me."

His lurid teeth were a shade of ugly yellow when he smiled, but his face appeared remarkably kind. But, hey, she'd been wrong before. He pointed to a desk in the back next to a boy with auburn colored hair. "I'm Mr. Acres; it's nice to meet you," he sounded sort of Gandalf-y. "Take a seat next to Mr. Seaburg and take out your copy of _Alice in Wonderland_, turn to page 280."

Max tripped over a girl's backpack and muttered an apology, slipping into the plastic seat, which was attached to the desk, with a squeak. She zipped her backpack open, but after fumbling around for a full minute, failed to locate the book. A frown formed on her face. "I don't have–"

"It's alright," Seaburg said as she settled into her chair, "You could share with me."

Her teeth pressed down on her bottom lip as her eyes fell over his features, his kind smile. It _would _just be her luck to be sitting next to the cutest guy in the room. "Okay," she managed.

"I'm Liam, what's your name?" the boy whispered audibly as Mr. Acres started talking.

Mr. Acres cleared his throat loudly of phlegm and Liam quickly lowered his voice.

"Don't worry about him, he's kind of an ass the first time you meet him."

She laughed undetectably, trying to mentally calm herself down. "What makes you say that?"

"Don't get on his bad side."

"Are you?" she almost smiled.

He smirked. "Maybe, maybe not."

"That's comforting."

The girl in front of her passed some handouts Max's way. She observed everyone else taking one and passing the rest, so she did the same, hoping that nobody would notice her social awkwardness. They were supposed to work in pairs, and so, naturally, Liam volunteered to look after the new girl and help her with the assignment, 'cause he was such a nice guy.

_Right._

"So, have you ever read _Alice in Wonderland_ before?" he asked conversationally, elbows resting on the table, his shirt sleeves rolled up to the crook of his arms so he could more thoroughly demonstrate his large biceps. _  
><em>

Max shook her head. "Yeah, you?" she snarked, trying to get him to lay off on her. She didn't particularly like him, but she could already tell he was the type to pursue, play, and purge, all in one month. The hair kind of made him seem like a total prude, but she wasn't judging.

He smirked his pretty-boy smile and raised an eyebrow. It wasn't often one found an attractive ginger, duly noted. "Nope. _Sparknotes_."

"What the hell are spark notes?"

Liam's laugh filled the immediate area. "Dude, were you homeschooled your whole life or something?"

"Yeah, what if I am?"

He shook his head. "You're just acting really green - lucky guess."

Max started putting her things together, seeing that it was close to the time that class was supposed to be ending, judging by the laminated blue time-chart stapled to the wall like a missing child's sign.

"Martian-American would be preferred. Don't they teach you basic manners in asshole country?" Max retorted.

A flush crept up to his cheeks a bit, lighting his freckles afire as it slinked along. "Sorry," he said. "ADD, I say everything that's on my mind."

"I'm so glad you're my seat partner then."

The bell rang, and Max was the first one out the door. Her schedule said "LUNCH" next, so she figured it'd be an okay idea to track the mass of moving children in various shades of black, white, red, blue, and plaid combinations of the above. Only one hallway from the staircase, a strong hand closed around her arm, almost making her shriek until she realized who it was.

"Geez, calm down," Fang hushed, pulling her around the corner towards the vending machine. "I just wanted to see if you were alright. You okay?"

His hair was slightly disheveled, the tie he'd been wearing loosened a little too much and the collar of his shirt unbuttoned some. A tight expression captivated his face, and she suddenly wondered if he'd been worried about her all morning.

"I'm fine," Max insisted, flattening his shirt, and catching a glimpse of something white sticking out of his shirt pocket. The hallway echoed with the passing of people too hungry to notice the two teenagers stopped in the hall. "What's this?"

Fang started explaining, but she pulled it out of his pocket before he had time to finish. On the slip was a note scrawled in typical girl handwriting, "_XOXO call me 555-345-5439_".

Max gave him an eyebrow.

His hands came up in defense. "I was _going to_ throw it away – some girl stuck it in my pocket. I can't even remember her name."

The paper sifted over in her hand. "_Sam," _it said.

"Fang, are you gay?" her foot rested on the wall behind her. "If you're gay, that means I can kick your ass and take your man card, you know that, right?"

"Let's not jump to ridiculous conclusions, shall we?" A hand went up to clench the bridge of his nose. "I am _not_ gay," he said a little too forcefully. "That was the girl's–"

"Is _this_ why you wouldn't sleep in the same room as Iggy? _You like him?_"

"No!"

"Oh my god, you liii–"

In the blink of an eye, Fang had her in headlock, to which she easily muscled herself out of and tried to get him back, but he just pinned her against the wall since he was bigger. "You think I'd have kissed you if I liked boys?" he inquired, and she couldn't tell if he was kidding through the butterflies swimming in her stomach.

Her cheeks reddened. "I was in a coma. Dead, for all you knew."

"Yeah, well my amazing _kissing skills_ brought you back out. Without them, where would we be?"

Max said nothing.

Fang pulled back, his face unreadable. "I rest my case."

"Whatever," Max was trying to put him out of her mind. She put a hand to her temple and closed her eyes for a second.

"So, in your humble opinion, should I call this girl back? Invite her to a movie?" Fang leaned against the wall next to her, and turned his head towards hers.

Max laughed. "Catch-22, with _your_ luck, she'd wanna see a chick flick."

"She was plenty attractive."

"Funny, I never pegged you as a tool."

"We already had a baby, so I'm more of a tool than anyone you've probably ever met."

"Aw, you're so gregarious, it's adorable."

Movement at the end of the hall caught Max's eye – a girl in their year was waving frantically, legs together, books under her arm, hair up in a bow.

"_Oh my God_," Fang groaned, leaning his head back on the brick wall so hard the noise echoed off every surface in the near vicinity. "That's her."

"Eli!" her sing-song voice called. "Come on, my friends saved you a seat!"

Fang looked at Max and stood directly across from her, both hands beside her head on the wall. "Don't freak out."

"W–"

Before she had time to think through what to do next, Fang had closed the distance between them and placed his warm lips just beside her mouth on the left side. Max's eyes went as big as dinner plates, but she immediately understood his reasoning, however crazy it was, to deceive the girl.

_Don't freak out don't freak out don't freak out–_

He angled his head so it looked like he was deepening the kiss they _weren't _having, and Max could hear a distant squeak as the girl turned quickly on her heel and sprinted the other direction. Fang pulled back.

"Sorry about that," he said. "Wanna get some lunch?"

* * *

><p><strong>So my friend loaded up my iPod with, like, all the music I will ever need ever. He has literally heard of every band under the sun, so I've been able to listen to My Chemical Romance, Panic! At The Disco, and Asking Alexandria like it's nobody's business. It's ridiculous. <strong>

**And the kid I nanny is sick, so I'm eating chicken noodle soup and it is absolutely delicious. **

**Life right now is okay. **

**Anyway, shoot me a review, tell me what _you_ want to happen with Max and Fang, and the others! I'm open to advice :) **

**Later,**

**~Steph**


	19. Welcome to Hell

**This week has been so loaded that it's ridiculous. I literally almost died driving home from youth group on Wednesday because I'm not accustomed to driving in a freaking blizzard with almost zero visibility in my 1988 Volvo Stationwagon. My brother thought me flipping out and swearing up a storm was really funny, but I was hardly amused. I lost the interstate a few times, actually, and had no idea what lane I was in. It was terrifying. Not funny. _Steph is not amused. __  
><em>**

**In other news, I've got guitar picks, I've got film for my poleroid, and I'm on the third season of Doctor Who. **

**Thanks so much to my faithful reviewers! _Ladybug3264, ILOVEMEERKATS, "haha", flyonfan14, RandomPeep, A Sheep, and BooksRide. _**

**And Reviewer of the Week: _The Wolf Who Walks Alone _:DDD**

**You all never cease to amaze me. Or make my day fantastic. Thank you!**

* * *

><p>The atmosphere around him was so loud he couldn't hear his way about, pathetically having to depending on El's warm hand in his as they moved through the lunch line like cows being prepared for slaughter.<p>

"Do you want me to get you some pizza?" she asked him, squeezing his fingers a bit to get him out of his daze, like she often did. "Pepperoni, cheese, or sausage."

"I know," Iggy said impatiently while his head spun, "I know, I can still _smell_. Pepperoni."

He felt her rolling her eyes, felt the pulling of the muscles in the back of her skull in her simple touch. He'd read somewhere in a textbook that horses could actually pick up small movements in the same way. It wouldn't be far fetched to say he was akin to those animals – he _was_ already part bird.

"Don't do that," he said.

"Don't take it out on me," El shot back. There was a _whap_ as something, probably pizza, was flung onto the plastic tray.

The clinking and bustling continued, sound effects of what he presumed to be school cafeteria lunch ladies chiming their cashiers. A foot behind him stepped on his heel, sending the back of his shoe under his sock. Iggy had to bite his tongue in order to stop from snapping. It was a girl, judging by the scuff of her feet on the linoleum lunchroom floor and the breathing coming from somewhere below his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry!" the girl exclaimed.

He shrugged, and said nothing, but felt El turn herself around, move her mouth presumably to form words he couldn't make out.

"Awesome," the girl confirmed. She spooned something onto her plastic tray with a metal ladle, it scraping and dinging as it scooped, dumped. "Hey, I haven't seen you guys around before. Are you new?"

El was evidently paying more attention, now that the girl had engaged in conversation. "We just moved last week," El answered for the both of them, teeth glistening in a smile. "I'm Em – What's your name?"

"JJ," the girl answered. Her voice was sort of husky, like she'd just swallowed a fistful of sand. "Um, you wouldn't happen to be related to an Eli, would you?" she inquired, moving behind them as the line inched on. "Ooh, banana pudding. I recommend it."

"He's our brother," Iggy said, finally making a noise, and when JJ didn't respond for a second, divulged, "We're all adopted."

"Ohh, okay," she said, like she'd been silently pondering.

Iggy reached for a ladle, for which upon someone had told him had been labeled in Braille. But he ended up burning his hand on the soft pretzel heater instead.

"Ow! _Dammit!_"

JJ audibly put two and two together, murmuring a little _hm _as she watched El reach over and put food on Iggy's plate for him.

To clarify, Iggy just said. "I'm blind, in case you're wondering."

"That's cool. What did you say your name was?" the girl asked, following the pair as they made for the cashier to punch in their school codes. El said they were written on school IDs, but Iggy couldn't see his anyway, so it didn't really matter. El spoke the number for them both, and the old lady, judging from the puffs of oxygen tank, told them they were good to go.

"He didn't," El explained as they followed JJ to the table she had gestured to, while Iggy pointedly ignored them both. "He's Zaac, and he's a year older than me. He's had kind of a rough day in the Special Ed department, since he's hardly challenged at all."

"Yeah, I'm not _handicapped_," he continued heatedly.

"That's understandable, I'm sorry," JJ put a hand on his shoulder long enough to break the tension between them. Nobody except the other teachers had touched him that day, save his family and Ella. It shouldn't have mattered so much, but it did.

"Once you get to know me a little better, you won't even notice. Poker's my thing."

"_Don't_," Ella warned hotly.

The table they paced forty steps to wasn't as loud as the ones closer up, and Iggy had to wonder if this girl had led them there that on purpose, or if she just avoided people in general.

"Did we forget to pick up silverware?" he asked El casually.

She placed a plastic fork and spoon in his hand. "_Mozeltov_."

JJ began to bite into her pizza, and it crunched under her teeth loudly, metal scraping against metal. She unscrewed her juice bottle.

"Where'd you guys move from?" she inquired, still chewing. Iggy reached for his tray, fingers fluttering over it gently to get the layout of things, so he didn't start eating pudding with his fork and pizza with his spoon. How embarrassing would that be?

He knew El had looked at him though he didn't see it himself.

"Colorado. Kind of up by Breckenridge. Lots of skiing and stuff up there."

"Nevada must be really different for you then, huh?"

"It's warmer," Iggy said, frowning. "Not too shabby."

"I miss the snow," said El.

"Were you guys skiers or boarders?"

El's mouth popped while she bit her lip. "Well, we have two disabled kids in our family, so we never really got into that. We play a mean game of _Monopoly_, though."

"Oh," was all JJ said, and then a split second later shouted, "ELI! OVER HERE!" and effectively blowing out Iggy's eardrums.

Fang's footsteps, along with Max's came closer, until Max sat on Iggy's side, and Fang sat across from him. But something was a little off – Max smelled like Fang, and Fang smelled a little like Max.

"Hey," was all Fang said. "Um, JJ this is Ma –this is Austen."

"_Ma _Austen?" Iggy pried. "_Maw_-ma?"

Ella put her soda down on the table, laughing.

"Did he give you a hug or something? Lick your cheek?" Iggy asked. "'Cause you guys smell an awful lot like each other. Just sayin'."

He could imagine them pulling different faces.

"_No_," Fang said firmly. "She wore my jacket all day."

"First day and already forgot your jacket?" JJ mused, "Tough luck, Austen. Cool name, by the way."

"Thanks…it's, um, was my dad's name."

It wasn't.

"That's cool."

Max bit into her meal. It tasted like cardboard, but she'd dumpster-dived too many times to be particular. "I suppose," she agreed.

* * *

><p>"Need a hand?"<p>

The tray Ari had been loading up with various meaty substances nearly clattered to the floor. He raised his eyes warily, ever warily. A girl gave him a smile, though, to his relief, it wasn't any of the girls who had followed him around after his math class. In fact, this girl was holding hands with a guy at least a foot taller than her with blonde hair and green eyes like his own. Both gave him what was probably supposed to be reassuring smiles, but Ari could only feel anxiety and dread.

But, he needed to eat. If he didn't, he was more prone to anger, additional anxiety, and the painful morphing that followed. That _could not _happen again, and certainly not in a public place. After all, the uniforms weren't exactly cheap.

The corners of his lips tipped up a bit and he shrugged, two crutches underneath his right arm as he held the tray steady. People weren't normally this nice – _ever. _

"Sorry," the girl apologized. "Didn't mean to startle you."

"It's good."

"Could you use some help?" the guy followed. "I mean, if you want. Are you new here?"

So many questions. "Uh…" Ari began eloquently, "Yes. And…yes. Thanks."

The girl tweeted over to where he was balanced and caught the tray between her petit hands. She smiled at him, blue eyes brilliant, complimented by makeup, a crazy haircut getting in her eyes. "I'm Ginny," she said. "This is Dylan."

"Luke Montgomery."

"Have somewhere to sit at lunch, Luke Montgomery?"

"Uh…I was looking for some friends, actually. Do you know anyone named Austen?"

"Austin Loving?"

"…No."

"Austin…McDowell?"

"No. She's, uh, yea tall…brown hair?" he motioned accordingly with his big hands, nearly toppling the chip display with his crutches.

Ginny's eyes went wide with recognition. "Oh, I know exactly who you're talking about. I literally almost ran into her in the hallway this morning. It was like she'd totally checked out. Your whole family just moved out here from Colorado, right?"

"Yeah, that's right," they meandered towards the cash register as Dylan picked up various food items and piled them high on a tray, for whom Ari assumed the two were going to share. The lunchroom lady gave Ari a once-over with her cold eyes, they lingering on the scar running through his eyebrow into the eye socket. He gave her the plastic card given to him that morning by the Special Ed teacher, and she spliced it through the machine.

Ginny pointed a finger in the general direction of the back corner. "We usually sit back there with the rest of our friends. We're like the drama kids nobody wants to hang out with. Band geeks," she smiled. "You're welcome to come if you'd like."

Ari shrugged, not knowing what any of those terms meant anyway. "What the hell."

"Hey, look, someone found our dog," Fang elbowed Max in the ribs after she'd moved around the table to make room for some more of JJ's friends. A black girl named Monique sat directly before her, along with another blonde girl whose pretty eyes seemed to grasp every guy in the room, Libby. There were three other guys, Spencer, Joel, and Moses. Mose was Monique's older brother.

Max elbowed Fang back harder than necessary. "Don't call him that," she hissed. "I know where you're ticklish, and I know where you sleep."

"You wouldn't."

"I would, and you know it."

Everyone around her continued eating food, all unnatural and inorganic. These kids had more to worry about with weight and all, and it was a wonder they weren't a whole lot fatter than they were now. It was like a feed lot. Ari settled at the end of the table in a pulled up chair, picking at his sandwich and talking with the boy and girl he'd arrived with, and Max had to wonder what all they were talking about. She'd ask him about it later, maybe. At least he was making friends. Like, real friends, not Eraserfied freaks.

It was a start.

Monique was talking louder than was fully needed about her last class, and some teacher who was giving her a hard time because she wrote an entire paper on why the Daleks had actually been the ones that started the Vietnam War.

"It was a legit paper, too!" she continued, wild hand motions extenuating her speech. "I had sources and sustainable evidence. I mean, it's no _wonder_ anyone can't figure out who started it, right? Where was the Doctor when all this happened?"

"You do realize you're the only one here that watches _Doctor Who,_ right?" Joel snarked beside her, reaching over and stealing Libby's muffin that she wasn't eating.

"Except me–_HEY_!" the girl exclaimed, black hipster glasses falling down her nose a bit while she lurched over the table to retrieve it. Joel swung it out of her reach, shooting it at Moses, who pulled his sagging pants up with the hand the pastry wasn't occupying. It crinkled lifelessly in his big hand.

"Give it back you assholes!" Libby yelled, and everyone laughed.

"Will you go out with me if I give it to you?" Joel was chortling, the muffin back in his possession.

The girl's face contorted. "Over a cafeteria muffin?" she exclaimed. "Keep it, dammit, I'll live."

It occurred to Max that she'd never met a nice guy in her entire life named Joel.

"He's kind of an ass," Max decided out of earshot, and the other girls just giggled. They sat in silence until Fang asked if Max wanted her crust, which she denied.

"So what made you guys move to Colorado in the middle of the year?" Spencer asked over a _Capri Sun_, lazily sucking the contents into his mouth with the plastic, see-through straw. His short, curly hair tempted Ella to touch it, but she denied herself. _Not_ socially acceptable. "It's kind of weird to just pull your kids out of school and stuff, you know?" he continued.

Max shrugged. "I dunno. Our mom had to move up here for her job, so we had to come with by default."

"Does it suck?"

"Not entirely," she shook her head, lying through her convincing smile. "So far I like our new house, and this school. You guys are really nice."

Spencer and JJ shared a smile and a glance. "Well, we like you guys so far," El contributed expressively. "The people on our street are all old with golf carts and Chihuahuas. It's kind of boring."

"And Veges-y," Iggy put in.

Eyes were on Iggy, and Max bit her lip as they all figured out he couldn't see from his clouded eyes.

"How did you become blind?" Libby asked, back in her seat, and heads whipped around, considerably shocked. "I mean, if you don't mind me asking…" she dabbled on.

But Iggy didn't mind. "I got really sick when I was a baby," he said, shrugging his shoulders, blowing it off. "It's alright, I get along fine as long as I have my seeing-eye sis."

He elbowed El, who smiled helpfully.

"I'm dyslexic," Spencer provided. "Had to go to therapy for a few years, but they got it straightened out."

"I wear hearing aids," Libby continued.

Iggy smirked and laughed.

"I have a step-brother with Down's Syndrome," JJ added.

Thankfully, the bell rang in time to set them free from another awkward situation. Before Max could turn to follow Fang to their next class, a hand caught her shoulder, pulling her back. Instinctively, she snapped around and nearly punched Libby in the stomach before she was able to stop herself. _Catlike reflexes, _Max almost smiled at her precaution.

Libby's brown eyes were innocent, kind. "Hey, um, we – our table – my friends and I were going to hang out over the weekend. Maybe swim or go to a movie or something. Would you guys like to come with us? It'd be fun with more people."

Max caught Fang's eyes, and he gave a little frown, expressing his indifference. "I don't see why not," Max said, trying to act like a normal teenage girl. _Normal_ kids hung out on the weekends.

As they left, Fang's hand brushed hers. "Still doing okay?" he asked, though he really didn't have to speak to her at all, because she already knew what he was thinking and what he was going to say before he spoke. They were like the same mind.

She nodded, knowing he'd be able to interpret her the exact same way, and he slung an arm around her neck, pulling her into a hug before they descended into hell once again.

* * *

><p>By the time school was over, Fang was so sick of people that he was considering his chances of getting away with killing a freshman or two to get the tension out of his system. There were too many noises and he was sick of girls approaching him to ask if he was finding his classes alright. He'd always just kind of back away and rub his neck like he was "too shy" to speak with them, and then blend with the ever-flowing stream of kids in the hallways; ride the current as it took him away and he was again lost to everyone who would want to find them. Max had said she'd wait for him by the front doors after she found Ari, and assigned Fang to locate Iggy and Ella before they were mauled by rabid adolescents.<p>

A head above everyone else, Iggy stood out like a penguin in an ice storm. His hand grasped El's like iron while they waded with the rest of juvenile trout. Fang raised his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly, startling the poor brood directly before him. Iggy's head whipped around, pulling his lead to a stop and making a face while he tried to locate the pitch once again. He mimicked it. Fang replied.

"You know," El was rolling her eyes again as Fang drew near, "Anne _did_ entrust me with a cell phone. You can _call_ people on these devices."

"I'm perfectly aware," Fang retorted a little too defensively.

Iggy inhaled deeply. "Breathe in…breathe out. Come on, Fang, we can do this together. It's really quite–"

"Can you just shut up and come with me so we can find Max and blow this joint?"

Iggy made a face, eyes bugging out and lip pouting a bit. "Okay, okay, Mr. _Bossy_."

Max's hand was flailing back and forth in the main entry hall while she flagged him down. Fang whistled a reply, and the same people in front of him turned around again, probably thinking, _What the hell is that guy's problem?_

_Got me_, Fang thought to himself. _I've got so many problems Dr. Phil couldn't sort me out._

Nooo sir.

"What took you so long?" she asked when they were within earshot. "We've been standing here for _three whole minutes_."

"I'll try better next time," Fang assured her. "Shall we go find our ride?"

Everyone just watched as the two leaders made decisions. "Nah, let's walk," Max said, "It's a nice day out."

"Does it _ever_ do anything in Nevada?" El asked, shouldering Ari's backpack. "Snow? Hail? Acid rain?"

"My best bets are _no_," Iggy responded, taking it from her.

No matter what Max did, she couldn't get the incident that afternoon between her and Fang out of her head. She also couldn't figure out why, and while she walked side by side with him, she couldn't help but notice his hand brushing past hers, the touch sending a blush to her cheeks, and she quickened her pace to a brisk staccato. Would she have been okay with it if he _had_ kissed her? What was happening with him? Why was he making her feel this way?

"So, did your day go alright?" he asked while Ig and El strayed behind a bit with Ari. His eyes gently followed her as they trudged along, backpacks heavy, feet dragging.

Max shrugged, not looking at him. "It was okay. I mean, it was _school_."

"Yeah, and your first day at that."

"Yeah," she echoed, mind wandering off on a different tangent. "You seemed to be a hit with the ladies."

He flashed a smile. "How could they resist?"

She smacked him in the gut. Fang hit her back.

_"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"_ Ella whooped, and the others laughed while the house with the red door appeared on the horizon line.

With raptor vision like hers, Max was able to make out the form of Anne standing on the front porch with her arms crossed in front of her chest, sweating in the mild heat. Wind was blowing like a caress, leaves of nearby trees breaking off and wafting in their direction. The ground was flat like sandpaper, coarse too.

Ari snickered behind them,. "She doesn't look happy."

"What do you think she'll do?" El asked, sarcasm heavy in her voice. "_Ground_ us?"

Max laughed, her hand brushing against Fang's again. _Stop it_.

"Send us to bed without dessert?" Iggy chuckled.

A rock that had been kicked all the way from the school by the small group continued its violent locomotion on the hot concrete sidewalk, occasionally coming to a halt when it landed in the junction between slabs. Fang hammered it extra hard, sending into the gutter with a satisfying clunk.

"Aw, Fang, what'd you have to do that for?" Ari whined, though a glint of mischief flickered in his turquoise eyes.

Fang raised an eyebrow, and everyone except Iggy laughed, because, well, Iggy couldn't see.

As soon as they were in earshot of the front porch, Anne had thrown herself into a banshee rant that could only be paralleled to a shark-like feeding frenzy. Of course, nothing phased any one of them, which made her scream all the louder.

"_I gave you all cell phones for a reason!"_

"Imbeciles," Iggy muttered.

"I mean, what were you thinking, you could have been picked up by someone, or scientists, pedophiles, the _police, _or…"

"_Cretins._"

"…that mass murderer that's been roaming Nevada could have shot you in the legs and continued to torture you…"

"_Mongrels._"

"_What are you doing?_" Anne growled menacingly.

He, being startled, timidly folded his hands on the table out before him. "I'm, uh, providing you with things you can call us. Trying to help, of course. As I do."

Ella almost exploded with suppressed laughter, and Max was biting the inside of her cheek, eyes pining for Fang's. He kicked her under the table.

Her elbows resting on the table across from them all, Anne held her head in her hands. "Emma, hand me my purse."

"Why?" Max couldn't help but ask.

Taking the leather bag, the caretaker rummaged around for something with a scowl on her face. A bottle of prescription medication was popped open in her palm, and she swallowed two small, blue tablets."Go to your rooms, all of you. I'm gonna to take a bath."

But, of course, all direction is meant to be bent, so five minutes later, all five kids were piled into Fang's room, swapping experiences from their day as water in the master bathroom ran. Ari was telling of how he was hounded by freshman girls the length of the school sessions, always offering to, like, hold his books while he got up from his seat, or asking to unlock his cubby for him. Like he wasn't already a literal genius at being an escape artist.

"She seriously said that?!" Iggy was chortling, tears running down his face. "'_Your eyes are like pools of emotion, windows to your soul. Like a storm on a Caribbean sea_'?! Who is she, _Shakespeare_?"

Ari had long since joined their antics, laughing so hard Max was sure he was about to break a rib. "What _class_ was this in?" she giggled. _Giggled._

"English," the Eraser's deep voice intoned. "I almost passive-aggressively knocked her block off."

"That's nothing compared to what Fang went through," Ella smiled. "He had to pretend to kiss Max to escape that girl from _his_ English class."

"English is where it all comes together…" Iggy imparted.

Max had turned a horrifying shade of plum, noticing the slight coloring in Fang's cheeks as well.

The bed creaked under Ari's weight while he laughed, a genuine laugh, while the others were simply sorry for the two. "How exactly do you plan to cover _that_ up?"

Fang ran both hands through his hair. "I have no idea," he moaned. "She just wouldn't stop following me. I didn't think about it."

"So you thought you'd just _schnoz_ Max?" Iggy asked, a smile on his face. He turned to Ella. "Hey, El, I have this itch on my foot, will you kiss me?"

"Ew, no!" she scrabbled, picking up the nearest book and throwing it in his general direction.

Through this, Ari was just grinning and shaking his head, like he didn't believe he actually had it this good.

"How've you been adjusting?" Max nudged his shoulder with her own, eager to changed the subject away from anything having to do with her and Fang's non-existent love life.

Being the calm fellow he was, Ari just shrugged. He'd taken his contacts out the second he'd arrived back at home, and his eyes were as golden yellow as they always had been. However, they had recently started to change color, and Max had to wonder if it had to do with his lack of wolfy hormone supplements and complete change of diet. They glimmered a shade of warm honey, the kind you find in plastic bottles shaped like bears.

"I've been doing better," he said while the others settled down – even Iggy. "Haven't had any triggers or anything in the last week. I actually ate a salad yesterday without puking my brains out."

"Well, that's nice," Iggy tipped lightly.

Ella pulled the Eraser into a hug, a hand cradling his cheek like he was a baby brother, not a huge, awkward-looking, wolfy teenager. Ari breathed a sigh, wrapping a gorilla arm around El's waist. He kissed her cheek.

"I love you guys," he surprised himself, smiling. "Thank you. For saving me. Just…" he met Fang's eyes and held them, saying specifically to him, "…thanks."

Fang nodded, putting a fist out for the Eraser to stack his upon. "Guess you're one of us now," he said in a low voice as their clenched hands bumped once. "Welcome home, Marius Odil."

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry I've been sort of MIA for the last few months, life has just been a little crazy. This week, I went to a Halloween party, and had a Halloween party, hung out with my friend Nathan, worked, did school, actually cleaned my room for once in my life, fell off a horse, and vacuumed my car. But I've decided to stay home a year after high school to work and raise more cattle in order to save money, and also intern at my youth group under my youth pastor, in addition to doing music at church. Right now is a really critical and pivotal point in my life, so I've been trying to take everything down a notch and it's sort of affected my ability to write all the time and still do all my homework and crap, so I'm really sorry about the splotchy updates. I'll do my best to keep up! Don't give up on me! You guys are the reason that I write. You're the best.<br>**

**Anyway, thanks for reading this week! I'll try and update soon :) Please take a moment and review for me!**

Love Y'all,  
>Steph<p> 


	20. Ready or Not

**So, I humbly apologize for my, like, eight month hiatus. I have literally had the most ridiculous half of a year, and it's so crazy that I wouldn't have been able to write a story like what my life had become. I loved, I lost, and I spent a week in the mental hospital for my depression. And now I'm eighteen and I'm going to college next year and I never want to love again, but life will go on and everything's going to be okay. So, all in all, I'm writing now and you're again at the receiving end, yey! **

**I hope you enjoy this new chapter of The Surrogate. Again, I'm real sorry about the wait. I'm a gigantic idiot. Thank you all for your faithful reviews and nice words and stuff :) I love you all!**

* * *

><p>The following weeks of school were largely unimportant and significantly dull. This was saying a lot because Max had lived in a kennel for more than half her life, so if she declared something as boring, there was no question. School literally took the cake. Being forced to conversate with strangers? Not getting a third choice between spinach casserole and meatloaf at lunch time? Getting asked out by guys she really didn't like?<p>

"Oh, that's wonderful, Austen," Anne beamed, trying to be the supportive and loving mother she was posing as. Anne had even made spaghetti pie – a sad mother staple. They were all sort of proud of her; she had been making a herculean effort, so much there was hardly a dichotomy.

"So what'd you say?" El inquired from across the dinner table, the only family member not plastered with woe at the announcement. "You said no, right?"

"Put that bastard in his place," Ari muttered.

"Well, actually…" Max was wringing the fancy napkin thingy she'd been educated to keep on her lap in order to act, she didn't know, _entitled_.

Trying to stifle the cough stuck in his throat from inhaling his food was a very red-faced Fang.

Iggy stiffened mid–bite, ground nuggets of beef tumbling back onto his plate. "Oh, my God, you didn't…" he groaned.

"Who the hell had the audacity to ask _you?_" El asked over Anne as she tried to speak in order to clear the tension in the air. Fang was radiating with it. "I mean, you're pretty, like _really_ pretty, but you have a terrible personality."

"_Enough!_" Anne finally was able to growl over the noise. Iggy was hitting his glass with his spoon repeatedly. Her hand made a sort of _clearing the air_ motion. "That's wonderful, Austen. What's his name?"

The way Fang refused to meet her gaze, Max was praying that she could disappear. "Um, he's my partner in English IV," she said, and bluffed, "I can't ever remember his name…it's Logan or Landon or something. I don't like him all that much. He's coming at seven."

A collective silence fell over the table, and everyone turned their attentions back towards the food on their plates and away from Max's love life.

"I'm happy for you," Anne smiled, still interested. "Just be back by nine-thirty, sound fair?"

"More than, thank you."

Across the table, Ari was saying something into Fang's ear, and he visibly relaxed a little and set his jaw differently, which made Max want to attack the Eraser and demand to know what the hell he'd said. What had he said? The silence at the table was deafening – the wind outside the house hissed and splashed up against the windows. Max pushed away from the table with the legs of the chair screeching against the floor. "I'm going to go get ready."

Iggy laughed. Max had never gotten ready for anything in her life.

Her feet pounded up the stairs and at last she was free from all of them. She took a seat at the vanity and scrutinized her appearance. What in the world could this boy have seen in her? Her hair was all over the place like she'd just been out for a spin through the air. She was too skinny, too tall, and her face wasn't pretty enough. All the other girls wore makeup, and Anne had even bought some for Max as a "random act of mom". It lay abandoned in the bottom drawer, but made Max wonder if she'd look nicer with some of it on. She'd watched El put some on once.

Two plastic cases of eye shadow and mascara rolled around in the depths as soon as Max yanked the drawer open. El usually put two colors of eye shadow on, one on the lid and one above the eye, but when Max did it, she looked more like a circus clown.

That wouldn't do. She wiped it off and tried the mascara instead. It was more straightforward.

"So you don't like him very much, huh?"

Fang's voice nearly caused her to draw a black line across her face. Max's face flushed red as he walked in to lean next to her on the vanity.

"Shut up," she huffed. She crossed the room and searched the closet for something that was not stained with blood or full of holes. Anne had gotten them all clothes, but Max still wasn't into the habit of wearing them, much to El's discontent. Nothing Anne got for them was nearly comfortable enough.

A green hoodie saying _life is good_ across the chest struck her fancy.

"Are you going to put on everything you own and cluck over it? That's what they always do in the movies."

"I told you to shut up, and you're not shutting up, what's wrong with this picture?"

Fang crossed his arms and watched while Max rooted through the dresser for shirts. Her hands were shaking. What if he knew how scared she was?

When she turned around, Fang was well within her personal bubble. He smoothed the remainder of the eye shadow off her eyelids with his thumbs and smiled a bit, those rare Fang smiles that made the world spin a little faster. He licked his thumb and cleaned off her lipstick, much to her embarrassment.

"There, you look perfect," he murmured. He took her hands in his and felt the jitters coursing through her body. He frowned. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to, I'm sure he'd understand."

"I know," Max said, her eyes closed. She fell against him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I know he would, I'm not good at being human. I'm trying to fit in."

"Yeah, and you're doing a great job," he said sarcastically. Fang led her to her bed and helped her sit down, and he pulled her into a hug. "I can tell him you're sick or something."

"I _am_ sick or something."

"Then we don't really have a problem here, do we?"

"No!" Max exclaimed, and then shrank again. "I mean, yes…I don't know. What if he feels my wings? What if I'm not, like…_girly_ enough?"

Fang's eyes smiled. "I think you're plenty girly for me."

"What if I'm awkward?"

That killed him. "I love awkward."

* * *

><p>The gravel ground against the tires of Liam's green Sudan while Fang watched from the safety of his window. He'd opened the glass and climbed out onto the roof as soon as the car was gone and watched the horizon blankly as it disappeared from view. He had this knot in the center of his gut, made purely from jealousy. Nothing in his heart was important enough to draw his attention away from it. A voice inside of his head assured him that nothing would happen between Max and the guy, but he knew he could never do anything if she liked him.<p>

Fang repeated over and over all of the moments they'd had shared together, just him and Max. That time he'd kissed her in the hospital. Kissing her in the grocery store because he could. Her body against his the night she'd slit her wrists, when she'd cried herself to sleep in his arms. The way they used to poke their fingers through the bars of the Kanine Kampers so they could touch.

He scratched at the shingles on the roof, pulling bits off and tossing them over the rain gutter. The muscles in his jaw ached from him clenching them. He bit some of the sandpapery material and slid his tongue over the rough surface. He tasted the metallic iron in his own blood and spit onto the ground, way, way down beneath him.

"Are you eating the roof?"

El was at the window, tilting her ballerina frame forward so she could see him. Fang rolled his eyes and spat again. "_Yes_," he jeered. The desert wind ripped at his black T–shirt and mussed up his thick black hair. "Don't you have homework to do?"

She was cleaning something out from under her fingernail. "Yeah, but I came to check on you. Don't _you_ have any homework to do?"

His chest fell with a sigh, his dark eyes stared straight ahead. "I don't want to talk about it," he replied, remained motionless. His elbows rested on his knees while he picked at what remained of the house under his feet. Fang didn't want to look at her, so he didn't.

With a squeak of the window frame, she lifted herself onto the roof to sit beside him, much to his irritation.

"Okay, no homework," she chirped, fixing her hair into a ponytail on top of her head with a hair scrunchy, "Let's talk about Max."

Alarm froze every fiber of his body. Oh, God, she knew.

"_No!_ Go play with your Barbies or something!"

"You're really mad, Fang."

"No, _I'm_ _not mad, _I just–"

Before he could finish, El's jacket hood was on top of his head and the wind carried the rest of the jacket like a kite behind him. "Now you're _super_ mad!"

Fang peeled the jacket off and angrily slapped it down against the side of the house. They watched it fall to the ground, red against the green lawn, and he stood up with his midnight wings fully spread, walking away.

"Hey!" El growled. "I'm talking to you!"

"I'm_ listening_," he echoed, clearly not. He balanced, keeping one foot in front of the other, on the highest ridge of the house. Liam couldn't do _this_, surely. Liam was a fridge, Fang was a freaking Olympic gymnast. Fang could ride his bike with no handlebars. Fang could take apart a remote control and almost put it back together.

El was right behind him, maintaining without the use of her wings, but solely her surefooted step. They climbed the chimney, and when the two were finally at the top and able to see the farthest reaches of Las Vegas, with the club signs neon pink and blue and flashing brightly in the twilight. Fang wiped his nose on the back of his hand.

"You could tell her, you know?" El breathed.

Fang shook his head sadly. "No, I couldn't. It'd mess everything up."

Ella sighed. "You want to know what I think?" she asked without waiting to see if he did, "I think she doesn't even like that Liam kid."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she's never looked twice at any guy at school. She only has eyes for you, but she doesn't understand what she's feeling."

Blushing and thankful for the cover of darkness, he said, "I'm the emotionless brick wall, why do I get all the gushy feelings?"

El smiled. "Because you're you, and she's Max."

* * *

><p>"So, you have kind of a big family, huh?" Liam asked conversationally. He'd just finished paying for their ice cream and he and Max were sitting on a bench outside. The night was young with the sun just setting over the horizon, adding gold to the celestial palate. A few stars had begun to glow in the east where the sun's absence was not missed.<p>

Max caught a dribble running down the side of her waffle cone with her tongue, "I geth thoh," she blipped. "It's just my four siblings and my mom, no dad."

"What I would give to have three brothers," Liam laughed. "You're probably the disciplinarian of the household, right?"

"No," Max reached for the spoon she'd set aside, just in case. "I gave up on that."

Liam's green eyes sparkled in the fading sunlight as he grinned. "Do you miss your home?" he asked, a little more seriously.

Her mind went back to the cabin in Colorado, she thought of the doctor, the lake, and the books, and she closed her eyes. "Yeah," she said, "I miss it a lot, but it's getting a little easier. I'm making friends, like you," she knocked his sneaker with hers, and he kicked it back.

"You're sweet," his voice was like honey over a hot car hood. "Do you all have plans for Thanksgiving?"

"When's that?"

"In two weeks. My older sisters are all coming home from college, it's going to be a complete disaster," Liam laughed a little, scraping up what was left of his ice cream from the bottom of his cup. Max wasn't even close to being done.

"And why is that?"

"Well, we live in a tiny house with three bedrooms and one bathroom, for starters."

A ripple of laughter escaped from her lips. "Sounds cozy."

His shoulder knocked against hers. "Yeah, _cozy _was definitely the word I'd use. Do you help your mom cook and stuff?"

Why the hell were they talking about Thanksgiving? "No, not unless we all felt like eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I burn everything."

Liam smiled. "I'm glad you came," he smiled, an she didn't know if he meant the date tonight or her family's "move" in general.

Me too," she said smoothly, and she smiled back at him. She had this feeling in her stomach, but it wasn't the butterflies she should have been feeling, it was a growing sense of dread – like any second now he'd realize she was a freak and run away.

But he didn't, and instead took her hand in his. It was warm and firm, but not hard and calloused like she'd have wanted.

Max blushed and stood up. "I have to go to the bathroom." She dunked the cone into his empty cup and smoothed her shirt down while she walked away.

She felt hot, like _really _hot, like someone had lit a match under her feet. Her heart was racing, and so were her thoughts. Stumbling over her feet, she almost fell through the swinging bathroom door and ran like fluid to the sink. The water she splashed onto her face was a blast of icy cold, but it felt so insanely good. She was trying hard not to puke in the porcelain. The second she looked up, she was face to face with a pair of amber, full moon eyes. Max jumped.

The Eraser in the mirror covered its snout, putting a furry paw over her nose. It was wearing Max's clothes – even the red bobby pin El had put in her hair before she left. Adrenaline like acid burned through her chest and shot up her arms. All of the blood drained from her face.

When Max, violently shaking, opened her mouth and leaned closer to examine her teeth in the mirror, she felt her own tiny molars instead of the canines she saw before her.

It didn't make any sense at all.

"Who are you?" she whispered in the cavern her hands made over her mouth. She felt hot breath on her skin.

_We're the same_.

"No, _no…_"

_Ready or not, here I come._

* * *

><p>Liam was kind enough to drive Max back to the house with the red door after she'd burst through the bathroom doors again and told him they needed to go. He was understanding and took her shaky hand in his and put his other on the small of her back, steadying her in case she suddenly passed out. It was dark when the house came into view and she could see several silhouetted heads poking through the living room window making sure they didn't miss any action. Light the color of honey spilled through the curtains.<p>

He put the Sudan into park and looked over at her. "I had fun tonight," he was smiling again. "I like this."

At a loss, Max gave him a tentative smile in return. "Sorry I got sick," she mumbled, "I feel like I ruined the whole thing."

His hand was on her cheek, making her want to pull away again. She always wanted to pull away. "Don't worry about it," he said, just looking at her, staring into her eyes. She put her gaze towards her knotting hands in her lap. She hadn't stopped shaking, or maybe it was just her imagination.

"Can I kiss you?" Liam asked softly, with one hand tenderly cupping her cheek.

Max felt cold and stiff as she had in the bathroom and the shock of the experience hadn't left her. She leaned forward and kissed Liam on the cheek, so close to his mouth that it almost burned her. "Goodnight, Liam. Thank you."

After she slammed the door shut and turned on her heel, she nearly burst into tears. The Sudan cracked over the gravel lane making a U-turn and then sped away, and Max was left alone on the front walkway. When she looked up at the night sky through the film of tears, she could again see the stars and couldn't think of any reason why she shouldn't join them. The jacket she'd been wearing was left aside while her hollow being sailed up and out from the weight and restraints of the world. Tears never stopped falling, but the wings just continued beating faster and faster until she was going so speedy that she must have broken the sound barrier. She flew until she could no longer see the house as it sank in the East. She flew until she was no longer afraid. And she flew until she began to think she might be able to hide from it all in this vast wilderness.

And then a shadow fell over the moon, causing her to look up in surprise. She thought she had been alone, what–

But she'd recognize that silhouette anywhere.

"_GO AWAY_," she yelled while the wind took the volume right out of her voice. She pumped her wings even harder, trying to get away, but Fang was right on her tail. Air rushed past her face, making her hair whip around her face like Medusa and she shot through the sky like a falling star. She dipped and weaved, trying to lose him, but he was just as fast as she was, and she realized with anger that it was because of his blood in her that she was able to do share in his ability to reach warp speeds. So instead she turned on him, throwing her entire weight into his oncoming form.

"MAX, WHAT THE F–"

"_YOU NEED TO STAY AWAY FROM ME,"_ she shouted while they fell, dropping like twin rocks from the same hand.

* * *

><p><strong>Buh nuhhh, what's going to happen? I refused to stop writing until I reached 3,000 words, so this last part sort of evolved and I have no idea where I'm going with it. That's how I write, it works out for all of us. <strong>

**Shoot me a review if you've missed this story! I've missed you too.**

**~Steph**


	21. Fang is Natureboy

**(Saturday:) I had kind of a ridiculous day. I woke up early, like, at six-thirty and couldn't get back to sleep, so I made some crepes with Nutella and wrote for, like, four hours. I think my dad thought I lost my fuzz. It was sort of crazy, I've never had a day like this. But, again, my insanity leads to you on the receiving end getting more of this story, so...I guess it works out.**

**Big thanks to pancakes-for-you, September14Fall, "Hayoooooo", A Sheep, Fang177, everlastingwolflove, Copper Phoenix, pancakes-for-you, September14Fall, and flyonfan14 for your wonderful reviews! I really appreciate the welcome back and lack of rotten tomatoes :)**

**I worked this out today: I am the biggest nerd that I know. Quite literally. I have a Hunger Games pin on my bag, Batman pins as well, Batman sheets, Superman key lanyard, I drive a 1987 Volvo Stationwagon (whoot), I have a dog named Josephine March after Jo from _Little Women_, I wore Doctor Who socks to church this morning, I'm writing a very long fanfiction, and I'm an English major...and the list just goes on. It's. Sad. No wonder my little brother thinks I'm crazy.**

**So, anyway, enjoy (^_^)**

* * *

><p>"<em>YOU NEED TO STAY AWAY FROM ME," <em>Max shouted, sounding crazier and less herself than Fang had ever known her to be. She was wild, her eyes were wide and bloodshot, and she was trying desperately to make him leave her by punching him and hitting him repeatedly while he was left to panic.

"Max, Max, it's just me," he was trying to argue, sliding her arms off of him. He grasped for her face. "_Max, you need to calm down!"_

The worst part about it all was that she was crying hysterically. It was more like an episode of psychosis than anything else – something inside of her had snapped her like a dry twig. Her body was flailed about as if she had no idea what she was doing. If they didn't stop falling now, they would be hurled upon the ground, which, at this altitude, would deal with them the same way that bed of concrete would. Human splatter art.

Everything suddenly worsened as Max then started screaming and grasping at her head. The two barreled and blurred through the vast expanse of nothingness until her thrashing abruptly stopped. But she hadn't just stopped fighting, she had stopped doing anything altogether. She was like a dead moth, her wings out as they were, and she dwindled and twirled in circles as she fell.

The wind fought him as he grasped for her body. His arms finally caught under her arms and Fang was miraculously able to slow the both of them down enough to where they could land. When he looked around, he could see that they were anywhere _but_ civilization.

A large boulder stood as a guard for the both of them and a backrest while Fang checked Max's body to make sure she was alright. What had caused her to react this way? Why had she stopped? Nothing was apparently wrong with her, her vitals were normal and she was still breathing okay. He sat back on his feet with one hand over his face. What the hell had just happened?

Thankfully, the cell phone in his jacket pocket was zipped up so it didn't fall off. But when he opened it to view the generic _Verizon_ background, no bars came into view at the top. So much for those dumb commercials.

The various selection of dried up driftwood would serve Fang as fuel for a campfire, as he was pretty sure the two of them were not making it out of the desert tonight. He pulled his trusty Zippo lighter out and lit a small bit of wood and gingerly placed it in the center of the tipi. It flickered to life, immediately radiating welcomed heat for Fang's hands. He'd forgotten how cold it could get here at night and prayed to _God_ it wouldn't rain.

In the cool, red dirt, Fang repositioned Max so she was at optimal range of the fire. He draped his jacket over her and sat beside her, holding her face in his hands.

"Max," he whispered, "Come on, wake up, it's going to be okay, please wake up!"

The light from the fire continued to dance shades of orange and yellow over her skin. It created shadows from her lips and nose and eyes. He traced his thumb over her high cheekbones and smoothed her hair away from her face.

She was so beautiful.

Her eyebrows would pinched together in a furrow every few seconds and her eyes would squeeze tight. He watched her as if his life depended on it, because it did. When he felt he was about to cry, her eyes unexpectedly opened again and her chocolate brown eyes settled uneasily upon his face while, like was trying to make out who he was and where they were.

"Oh my God," he kissed her fore head and pulled her up into his arms. "You're okay – thank God, you're okay."

He breathed in her sweet scent, stroking her hair with one hand while the other arm wrapped around her tight.

"What happened?" she asked breathing hard. Her heart rate began to speed up while she remembered. "I was flying…"

"…And then you turned around and attacked me, it's alright," Fang finished, "It's okay, you're safe now," he said. "I've got you, I've got you…"

Max tried to lift her head and look around, but Fang held her all the tighter and pressed her face into his shoulder. "Shh, angel, you need to rest."

"Don't tell me what to do," Max argued weakly, an attorney without her legs. "I was – I got this really bad headache, and I was seeing all these numbers in my vision…Fang, we can't stay here in Nevada anymore, we need to leave." She tried to sit up on her own, and Fang helped her so she was against the same boulder as he was, facing both fire and horizon. "There was a bunch of zeros and ones," she was recalling, staring at nothing ahead. "It might have been binary code."

"…And I have no idea how to read that."

"Neither do, I-I got scared. It could have just been the headache, you know? Hallucinations?"

"I don't think so, it sounds a little fishy. And Max, the kids really like it here, _you_ know?"

Her head rested upon the rock behind her and she closed her eyes, shutting off the lights from the sky. "Ari doesn't."

"Ari doesn't like anything," Fang said gruffly. He didn't want to argue right now, he kind of wished she could just listen to him and say 'okay' every once in a while.

Her fingernails dug into the ground, red earth getting stuck up under the nail bed. "I know they like it. I just can't do this."

Beside him in on the ground, he put his hand over hers, and almost smiled when she responded by holding it tight. It was familiar and it felt good. Natural. Like this was the way it was supposed to be.

"You don't have to do it alone, you know," he said quietly.

Eyes on the fire, she nodded heavily. "I know."

Way out on the dune, it felt like they were the only two people in the world. It was easy to believe, too, when all around for a hundred miles, there wasn't a single light, just the reflection of the moon off of the red rocks, the white sands. In the distance somewhere, an owl was hooting. The wind whistled.

Fang looked down at his and Max's hands, joined together like they always should have been. Max raised them up to her lips when she felt his eyes on her. He kissed the knot they had between them softly. Max closed her eyes.

And then, as if he didn't really know what he was doing, his lips found hers. He pressed his against them as gently as he could. Her lips were warm and soft against his. To his surprise, she began to kiss him back, leaning in so that he felt lightheaded with happiness. Fang angled his head better so he could deepen the kiss, and had to remind himself to breathe. The second they shared together seemed to stretch a millennium, and was one thousand times better than he had imagined before in his head. He placed one hand on the back of Max's head and the other slid to her waist. He never wanted this moment to end.

But eventually, as all things do, it did, and Max drew away. She had the most beautiful blush on her cheeks, so Fang reached over and kissed those too. She smiled shyly, slowly gathered the courage to look him in the eye. He planted his lips on her forehead. He wanted to kiss every inch of her, taste her, love her.

Max couldn't bring herself to speak, she had no idea what to say. She placed a hand on the side of Fang's face and looked met his eyes. She closed the space between them. Fang wrapped his arms around her, pulling her ever closer to himself. She could feel him smiling against her lips.

But then the headache hit her again, _hard._

Breaking the contact between them, she gave a strangled cry of pain and hunched over, both of her hands flying to her temples.

"Max? _Max–"_

The voice was back, the one that she heard in the bathroom when she turned into an Eraser. _3409 Rhode Island St. San Francisco, _it was shouting in her head in this voice that had no emotion. It was neither male nor female, adult or child, it just was, and it was speaking in her head louder than anything she'd ever heard. Max's vision all blurred while images flashed through her head, behind her eyes. A gigantic building that looked green in her eyes while the binary code filtered through it all. None of the windows were clear enough for her to see inside. _Rhode Island St. San Francisco. You cannot run, you cannot hide. Come and find me. Come and find me._

Max felt like her head was going to explode. How was it that one moment, she could be kissing Fang, and the next in this much pain? The pressure she felt inside of it was so intense it was like someone was running over her head with a garbage truck, but she couldn't die. She had never felt pain this intense before in her life, not at the Institute, not anywhere. It pulsed down her spine and into her arms and legs. Max felt it in her being, she felt it in her soul – stabbing, grinding, pulsating, knowing.

_You cannot run and you cannot hide, _it was saying.

Every syllable was emphasized with its own wave of agonizing sensation.

_Who are you? _she shrieked inside of her own head.

_Oh Max, I am a part of you. We are the same._

_What do you want from me?_ the Voice seemed to think for a moment after she asked, but her physical body still shaking from unbroken torment. Max held her head in her hands. She could feel somehow through all of the throbbing, Fang's arms were surrounding her. Nothing eased the pain. It kept coming in waves.

_Come find me, _the Voice hummed.

_Why? _Max shrilled, begging for the pain to end.

_Because you're already looking._

_What? _Nothing the Voice was saying made any sense. Everything was a riddle, he, _it_, never answered in complete sentences. It talked like Fang did during puberty.

_I am already among you._

And then, just as suddenly as the Voice had come, it left, leaving Max a shell of the strength she had previously possessed, collapsed on the ground with Fang hunched over top of her shouting her name. Her eyes opened slowly, fuzzy and distant at first. She blinked once, then twice, then turned in the sand and threw up.

She was floating, still floating in her mind, feeling like she was still trapped in freefall. The sand became soaked with undigested ice cream from the date with Liam, which now seemed like it had been a hundred years ago, instead of an hour. When Max heaved again, Fang gathered her hair away from her face so she didn't soak herself in her own vomit.

"Max, _Max,_" Fang was repeating. She realized, he had probably been doing for the last ten minutes. "Max, are you alright? Should I get you to a hospital? _Max?"_

Max shook her head, wincing at how a little of the pain lingered in the ligaments in her spine. "I'm fine, I'm fine," she repeated a couple of times, trying to convince herself as well of the state of her condition. "Just a headache." _Yeah, a headache that causes brain cancer._

"Are you sure?" he sounded genuinely concerned about her wellbeing, and also like he knew that she was lying to him, like he was always able to tell. "Max," Fang's voice was stern as concrete and hard as nails.

The air around her tasted sweet. The paranoia was still there, the worry that anything that she did would set off another brain explosion. Fang wrapped his ropy arms around her. There was really no easy way to say that she was hearing voices.

"It was like someone had put a nuclear bomb inside of my head and set it off," she said, because analogies seemed the best way to approach the subject. "Like a headache, but a headache on steroids."

He kissed her temple. Tears started welling up in her eyes. "And then these images were floating through my vision like that time before, the binary code. I saw this big green building, and an address, it was something, 'Rhode Island Street, San Francisco'."

_3409_, the Voice piped helpfully.

"_Shut the hell up!" _Max roared.

Fang immediately removed his arms from her and backed away, like he'd been burned. "What did I do?"

Immediately, the waterworks bubbled up, sending streams like cascades down her face. "It's this Voice," Max started to sob, "I'm hearing a Voice in my head and it's talking to me and I turned into an Eraser during the date…"

"Woah, woah, _what?" _he walked back over on his knees and dropped onto his hands when she was right next to him, sitting down. His eyebrows had knitted together and looked like he was about ready to start shouting in confusion.

Max placed a finger on his lips. "Hear me out," she commanded in a leaderly way. "Okay, we were getting ice cream and I started feeling really hot, like warm-hot, so I ran to the bathroom so I could splash water on my face so Liam didn't think I was a complete freak and when I looked up, my reflection was an Eraser."

She waited for that to sink in. Fang was busting with questions, but he waited. "Okay, and then what?"

"But I wasn't really an Eraser, I touched my teeth and they were still, like, _my_ teeth. And then I basically hyperventilated and this lady came in and had to support me back to Liam and told him she thought I was pregnant or something 'cause I wouldn't talk to her…"

"_Are _you?" Fang asked, raising his voice.

She looked at him like he was wild, "_No_, I'm not, unless you think I may have had an encounter of the third kind in the last month–"

The expression was lost on him._ Now _she sounded like she was losing her shit. "Forget I said that," she added quickly, shaking her head. "When I got back home, I was angry and scared because of the incident in the bathroom so I kind of took off. And then I attacked you because you were following me and I was freaked out."

"Which was abnormal."

"_Yeah_, I know. Then I started seeing binary code in my vision and the green building and blacked out."

"Okay…and then just now? What happened?"

He was now sitting close enough to where he could hold her hands and kiss her fingers as they laced in between with his. It was blatantly distracting to her remembering. "Then the headache explosions…and I started hearing this Voice."

With his deep obsidian eyes, he looked up at her and rubbed her hands with his. "Is that all?" he asked, remaining remarkably calm.

"Yeah," she breathed a hefty sigh and sort of collapsed into him.

He pressed his face into her hair. "Well then," he whispered. "What did the Voice say to you?"

This she didn't want to tell him. The part where the Voice was part of her and said one of her family was one of _Them_. She knew right away what Fang would say – that it was Ari that was spying and telling the Institute about their every move. But Max wasn't so sure of that, and was more worried that it was Iggy or El…or even Fang.

"It said that it was a part of me," Max decided to disclose in the end. "It kept saying, 'ready or not', and 'come find me'," she looked up at him as her head rested against his chest. "I think it wants us to leave here, I don't think we're safe."

"We're not safe anywhere anyway," Fang replied. "But we can't stand divided. I'm with you whatever you decide; you're the boss, that's what Lou said when he died."

Max nodded and closed her eyes. "We need to leave before they become attached. I feel bad that Ari wouldn't be able to have his surgeries, but we really can't afford to stay much longer."

At this, Fang frowned and actually thought about it. "Max, we want a better life for Ari, though. He's just a kid, he may never have this chance again."

Max shook her head. "This is too big for me, I can't save everyone, I can't make everyone happy. It's like they want me to save the world."

"I'll bet you could if you tried. I really believe that you could," his eyes were dark and calm, his voice soothing and fluid. Gently, Fang took his jacket from where it had been thrown on the ground and gently eased Max so that she was lying in the grainy, white sand beside him. He draped the canvas cloth over top of her. His hand stroked her hair gently while his eyes scanned the vast stretches of the surrounding dunes. Not a single movement disturbed the night, nothing but the stars moving in tandem with the revolving celestial sky.

"There once was a man named Jonah," Fang began, "And God told him to go to a city called 'Nineveh' to warn them of their impending demise."

"Are you telling me a bedtime story?" Max asked him, her hair sifting with the sand she lay upon.

Fang touched her cheek. "I'm trying to," he admitted, tracing her lips, "Shh. But Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh, so he set sail for Tarshish. On the boat, there was a great storm and the captain and his crew thought the ship was going down, so Jonah said, 'It's me, I'm the reason why there's a storm, God is angry at me.'

"So they threw him off the boat and he was swallowed up by a great fish. He was in there for three days before begging God to let him go so he could preach to Nineveh. So God let the fish spit him out, and he went. The end."

There was a pregnant pause. "What did that have to do with anything?" Max queried.

Fang looked very wise from his position, leaning up against the giant rock with the fire creating shadows across his face. He was a man who knew too much, a boy too wise for this world. "We can't escape our destinies," he stated quietly, searching the stars, as if for answers.

* * *

><p>It was about ten-thirty before Anne came out of her office from a conference call. Her coffee cup was empty and she had bags under her eyes when she entered the kitchen searching for something to eat. A package of Fig Newtons caught her eye in the cubbard and she grabbed it off the shelf. In the next room, she could see El and Ari curled up on a the couch next to one another with another <em>Magic Tree House <em>book between them. Ari was slowly but more confidently reading from the pages, with El helping him sound out some of the harder words.

"'_Jack looked out the…window, too. The air was…fresh and cool. The tree house was in a tree with…w…witt flowers…'_"

At this point, El looked too tired to be correcting him and had resorted to holding her head up with her arm that was propped up on the armrest. When Anne walked into the dim room, Iggy looked up from his own book in Braille across the room from the two on the sofa, and angled his head towards her. "Hey," he said tiredly, "Harry just got drafted into the Goblet of–"

"Did Austen ever come back?" Anne asked, biting one of the cookies in half. "She was supposed to come home an hour ago."

Ari stopped reading. Iggy raised his eyebrows at El, who let out a sigh. "Well, she _did _initially," she divulged, "but then she, like, had a panic attack or something and flew off. Eli's on it, it's fine now."

She smiled. Anne's face dropped. "Oh my God…"

"It happens all the time," Iggy added, trying to be helpful, "that's how Aus copes with new situations." He looked at El, "–she _runs away." _Jazz hands.

Pizzazz didn't really help things for Anne. She sunk into the available armchair near the window and put her head in her hands. "You five are going to be the end of me," she uttered. "Is Austen going to come _back?" _

Iggy had his attentions turned to Ella expectedly. Ari dog-eared the page of his book and closed it, holding it between his warped knees. "That would probably depend on when Eli catches up to her. They both have a 'warp-speed' setting, it's in Eli's DNA, which got transferred into Aus' body when she had that blood transfusion."

"They could be hundreds of miles away by now," Iggy explained. "They'll be fine, Eli's natureboy."

As if that would stop the lions and bears from attacking, Anne thought. The kids obviously had no concerns about the two, but that didn't save her the feeling of dread that gnawed. She was about three seconds from whipping out her phone and calling a search on the two, but something in Ella's eyes stopped her. These kids had something she had not seen in years – complete trust in an individual. They trusted Max like she was God.

She put her phone down on the coffee table, a hand out in a _stay boy_ motion while she bit her lip. Pain was on her face when she tore her eyes away from it and fixed her gaze on El. "Let me know if they call. I'm going to have some wine and go to bed."

_Alcohol?! _Iggy mouthed to her when Anne turned her back. Ari shrugged his shoulders. He just watched her leave with wide, soulful eyes.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Max awoke underneath Fang's hoodie and curled up beside him in the sand. He was roasting something on a small fire that smelled terrible. The aroma of the morning had not yet faded, because the sun had not finished rising and pink lines defibrillated the sky awash with orange. And yet, dawn remained, casting a sort of magenta, royal blue across the desert. It sort of looked like the planet <em>Tatooine<em> from a Star Wars movie Iggy had made her watch once, barren white sands as far as the eye could see. Fang didn't see at first that Max had awoken and she just watched him. His face looked like it had been carved of stone, the way it didn't change at all when he stared at the fire. Crackling on a stick was a skewer of what looked like cactus and lizard.

"Well that looks appetizing," Max raised herself from her back into a sitting position and stretched. "You're a hunter _and_ a gatherer."

Fang looked at her and smiled. "I suppose," he chuckled, his gaze lingering, locking with her eyes. She'd never seen him smile so genuinely in his life. He literally looked so content with himself that Max got those butterflies in her stomach again when she looked at him. He wasn't the boy she grew up with anymore, not thin and scrawny with overgrown hair all over the place. He was lean with muscle and hardened by the road, a face angular and stern. But when he smiled…when he smiled, the whole world lit up.

The cactus on the stick was beginning to hiss, so Fang took it out of the fire and blew on them to cool them off. He took out his Swiss Army knife and sidled all the pieces onto a flat rock. And then his eyes settled on Max. "Breakfast?"

She smiled and shuffled next to him, taking a slice of lizard, and putting it in her mouth. It wasn't bad, she'd eaten a lot worse before. "Sorry…about all of this," Max apologized. "Anne must be freaking out."

"Eh," Fang shrugged, chewing, "We can let her sweat."

Beside her, Fang was watching her with his dark eyes in a different way than she was familiar with. "What?" she finally asked.

He smirked, "Nothing, you just look nice today."

Max blushed, taking a slice of cactus between her teeth. "Thank you," she responded shyly. "You look very…"

"Devilish?"

In surprise, she laughed, "Yes, you look very devilishly adequate today."

"I suppose that'll do," he brushed his hands off onto his pants, getting rid of the juice that squirted from the cacti whenever it was squeezed. A little bit dribbled down Max's chin while she ate, so Fang reached over and dabbed it from her face with his thumb, and then placed it in his mouth. While she watched him, their eyes met, and she absentmindedly glanced at his lips, so he leaned forward and kissed her gently, just like he had the night before. It was short and sweet, and didn't last as long as Max would have wanted, but he pulled back just to look at her again, one hand supporting her chin.

His eyes were smiling. "I like finally being able to do that."

* * *

><p><strong>I just showed my mom what Fanfiction is and I think it literally surprised her. We're quite sophisticated on here, are we not? <strong>**  
><strong>

**And, ah, the long-awaited Fax chapter :) Please, please review, I put so much work and so many hours into this story! I'll sit for several days watching my computer like a hawk and I throw a tiny party every time I get a new one. I'll, like, watch the traffic graph and it's like, thirty-nine people read this last chapter and I get floop five reviews? Sad face :(**

**But this chapter, I'm really proud of. Pretty please?**

**~Steph**


	22. Ari's Not Getting Any Younger

**So, the cows got out and went on a long vacation over the last four days. They had gotten out on Monday, were missing a whole night and day, and on Wednesday morning, I took the ATV out and located the cows amongst a whole herd of cows. I'd recognize Stewart and Grover anywhere. Sir Cuddingham and Belle had been corralled in the night before, but mine had been missing, and I got stepped on and headbutted getting my stupid cows back into the pasture. And then my mother and I spent the last two mornings fixing fences for several hours. I'm quite tan. It's been a week. I'm on the forth Harry Potter book for the second time. I ordered textbooks. Gaaaah, life. **

**Anyway, in the midst of this, here's a chapter for you :) Big thanks to my five reviewers, the lovely ****_pancakes-for-you_****, ****_A Sheep, aries4me, Fang117, _****and ****_Copper Phoenix_****! You are all greatly loved and appreciated and please enjoy these virtual chocolate chip cookies that I sort of didn't make. Not getting very many reviews after writing a nice, long chapter is like performing in front of an audience and no one claps. Please review!**

_**Anyway. **_

**Enjoy the chapter!**

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><p>They slipped in the next morning through the window in Fang's room that someone had left open. It was around six in the morning, before anyone was awake. The morning still had a blue hue to it, the hot desert sun just risen over the horizon.<p>

"What should we tell the others?" Fang asked as they sat together on his bed, leaning against the ancient headboard. "About leaving, I mean, have you decided?"

Max shook her head. "I honestly have no idea," she said. "I have no idea where we would even go. I have this overwhelming feeling that Itex is still out there, it gets in my head at night and I can't sleep."

"Hm."

"And not only that, but now we'd have the government all over this too. We'd be missing persons before you could spit."

His gaze was warm and soft upon her eyes. She wanted to kiss him again, but she shook that feeling away.

"Are you tired?" he asked her, brushing some of her hair out of her face with his hand. "You can lay down if you want, the bed's big enough for two."

The smile she gave him was gentle and appreciative. He wrapped both arms around her and pulled her close so he could breathe her in and kiss her head. The bar code tattoo was dark and glaring upon her right arm. He stroked it with the back of his hand and allowed her to sink beneath the covers. The next thing she knew after she drifted under the waters of exhaustion were the lotiony-soft hands that, by process of elimination, could only belong to Anne Walker, rousing her from her sleep.

"Austen, honey?" she was asking, shaking Max's arm gently as she slumbered under Fang's starchy sheets. "Are you awake?"

Max's eyes opened narrowly at the woman, wanting nothing more than to dive back into Nod and pretend the caretaker didn't exist. "I am _now_," she mumbled grumpily.

Behind Anne leaning against the doorframe was Fang, who wore the most gentle of smiles on his handsome, and elegant, countenance. He was dressed in different clothes and looked as if he was making sure Anne didn't, like, strangle Max as she lay defenseless in the bed.

Max prepared herself for the lecture Anne was likely about to send her, but instead the woman sat down beside Max's knees on the mattress. "I made some breakfast, pancakes and eggs and bacon, they're on the table, do you want to come down and join us?"

Nothing could have prepared her for _that_. Agape, Max looked at Fang, and he shrugged, mouthing, _It's okay – I handled it._

_Thank God_, Max thought. She didn't know how she would have explained the previous night, and recalling the events, she forced heat from rising to her cheeks. "Pancakes would be wonderful," she answered tightly, giving Anne the best smile she could muster.

"Great!" said Anne, leaning forward and giving Max this sort of awkward two-armed hug with a misplaced pat on Max's back. Max pulled a face at Fang that said, _Save me._

He just watched, grinning to himself at her misery. When Anne finally left the room and was out of earshot, Max asked, "What was that all about?"

"I talked to her this morning before you woke up and she took it remarkably well. Kind of made my hair on my neck stand up."

"Why is that?" she wondered.

Fang shrugged. "I don't know, I just had this feeling. Don't worry about it, you're already losing your mind as it is. Second breakfast?"

He offered his hand as a gentlemanly gesture, which she gladly took, and they walked down to the kitchen together. By the time they went through the kitchen archway, Fang had put his hands on her shoulders and was leading her to the counter, where a large plate of homemade pancakes sat, steaming and still hot. Blueberry sauce, as well, had been placed in a bowl beside, along with sausages, eggs, and bacon on a separate platter. Max was mildly impressed.

"Mooorning Aussy," Iggy drawled from the table, being able to pick out hers and Fang's gaits from the rest of the family in the kitchen. El was going back for what were probably thirds, and Ari was struggling to sit down in the stupid braces Anne forced him to wear.

Max waved at Iggy, then remembering he couldn't see her. "Hey. Who made all this?" she gestured generally at the display.

"Me and Iggy," El piped through a mouthful of sausage. "And Anne…kind of."

"Hey, I flipped the pancakes!" the caretaker said in her defense. "That's not a kind of!"

"Kind of is," Ari mumbled, dipping his sausages in maple syrup as he watched Ella do the same thing. "I didn't do anything," he reported.

Ella ruffled his grayish-brown hair playfully. She pulled out the chair beside him and sat down, kicking Iggy in the shins across from her. "Yes you did, you cracked the eggs open!" she beamed.

That was also a "kind of", but nobody said anything. The sound of the coffee maker in the background caught Max's attention.

"I want some of _that,_" she told Fang.

Iggy rolled his eyes. "Sure, leave it to Aus to choose coffee over food – _ow!_"

Across the table, El had kicked him again while Anne flew over to put a hand on both of their shoulders. "Heyheyhey, come on, we're trying to have a _good morning_, right? We're having fun, right?"

The look on her face was indiscernible. The woman was sure acting strange, and something made a shiver run down Max's back. But as soon as the look had appeared, it disappeared into the more usual façade the woman wore. She had been adopting more habits that concerned Max, who hadn't mentioned any of her observations with Fang but was sure he had picked up on the behaviors as well.

"Right," Max said evenly, sharing a cool, flat look with Anne. "Just having fun."

* * *

><p>History had never been El's favorite subject. Like, she <em>liked<em> those PBS shows about science and stuff because that was _interesting_, but history…that was more Max's thing. Mrs. Wessel, her teacher, wore the most outdated outfits. She had on a black-and-white polka-dotted business shirt and had buttoned it up all the way so her head was sticking out like a prairie dog from a whistlepig hole. A big black bow gathered at the top and sat like an ugly spider on the woman's collarbone. _Burn the witch, burnthewitch._

Ella tore her eyes away from the oddity and refocused on the computer screen in front of her. She was supposed to be putting together a PowerPoint presentation about the bubonic plague , a history of, to share with the class in front of everyone. The only trouble here seemed to be that she couldn't spell her way out of Ziplock and the search engine couldn't identify her words. Beside her, a boy named Tennyson – who had a super weird name – was flicking through slide show effects on shapes and how the letters appeared on the screen. El was mesmerized, she'd never put a slide show together in her _life_.

"What are you looking at?" he asked after he caught her staring.

Her eyes flicked away and back onto her computer screen. "Nothing – sorry – spacing."

After the moment of embarrassment, the monitor in front of her seemed all the more interesting. She pulled up Google and searched "boobonit plag", and clicked around on the mixed results. After fifteen minutes, she wasn't on a page about the plague at all, but on something more compelling entirely. Current scientific discoveries and movements? It sounded better. It was more interesting, she could work on the Power Point later, right? Fang knew how to do all this, besides, maybe he'd even do it for him if she threatened to tell Max that he liked her.

About fifteen minutes of random searching later, she had ended up on the homepage of the "Rhode Island Street Institute for Higher Learning", where a logo of the Golden Gate Bridge silhouetted beside an eagle, feeling about the screen in a different way than she'd ever had before. She felt like something was calling her to start typing letters like code and series of numbers. A separate window came up and she began typing what she felt in her mind were the correct things to tap. She began to feel a block, like a firewall, inhibiting her from unlocking the full potential of the site. She pushed on it, paragraph after paragraph of text…and then suddenly she stopped to breathe. Pressed the _enter_ key.

_Plook!_

She was in. But inside of what?, she worried. What had she done? The web layout was simple, a regular type of font, size ten, maybe. There were tabs that turned blue whenever her mouse hovered over them. One said _Joint Organizations_. She clicked on it.

Up came the Itex Institute. Her heart froze. A button popped up, begging, "Would you like to make changes to this page?"

_Uh, fuck no. _

The first thing on the page was an article about Dr. ter Borcht, the doctor responsible for the creation of El and her family with the help of Dr. Gunther-Haagan – whose name sounded like a brand of ice cream, El thought.

_"Dr. ter Borcht of the Itex Institute is proud to announce the success of his latest genetic combination. OMEGAA (Obduro Mechanic Experiment, Genus: _Anitibyx armatus_ ) is said to be the biggest and most complex organism ter Borcht has ever effectively brought to life. Ter Borcht was also the original creator of the Obduro Organic Genus: _Haliaetus _Experiments, which were unfortunately retired due to complications with DNA degeneration. OMEGAA is allegedly supposed to be everything these previous experiments were not, and it is faster, stronger, and smarter in all respects. The Director is said to be very proud."_

The picture of the squalling infant, still red and covered in placenta from its rough introduction to the world, was placed above the article. Though she couldn't see it, El just knew it had to have wings, with a genus like the tawny eagle. She tilted the screen away from Tennyson so he couldn't see what she was doing at a glance. "OOGH" was highlighted in the purple mask of a link, so El dove into that as well. At the top of the page, a red square saying, "Restricted Material" blipped up.

Ella couldn't believe her eyes.

Pictures of a pair of infants, two different colors, one white and one caramel, appeared. The babies had the tiny, delicate forms of what looked to be wings underneath the blood and tissue that still covered them. Their cords had been recently clipped, too. At the bottom of the first photograph, it read: _Experiments 1 and 2 delivered from same surrogate mother. _

El immediately recognized the two babies, it was obvious. She clicked out of it and tried to control her breathing. By lunch time, El was about bursting, she had to tell someone about what she found, or she was going to explode. Before she completely closed the window in the computer lab, she had made sure she could still log onto the Rhode Island Street Institute's server, and she could. She didn't understand how she just _knew_ what to type in. As soon as Iggy's special ed teacher was finished helping him get his books and bearings, Ella was outside the door waiting, shaking as she did so.

"What's up with you?" Iggy demanded as she grabbed his arm and started leading him to his locker. "You're doing that twitchy jumpy thing that you do when you're losing your shit."

El swallowed hard, not even sure how to word all the things running through her mind. "Um…I have something I need to tell Max and Fang, something I found on the internet while we were in the computer lab."

"You can tell me too, right?" his voice had a hint of bitterness in it. He was always left out of important things.

She slammed the locker harder than was necessary. "I can tell you anything, Iggy, you know that," she said, trying to sound in a way that he would believe.

"Were you looking at corn, Ella?" he went on, "'Cause if you were, I really don't blame you – the leafyness, the aphids…mmm…aphids…"

She smacked his arm. "No, Zaac, I was not lusting after aphids, can you just wait?"

"I don't wanna wait, M- Aus and Eli always to hear things before me!" he was pouting. "What did you _find?_"

They entered the pool of students in the middle of the hallway and rode the current, where Iggy grabbed Ella's hand for stability, to the vertical steps of the staircase. "Come on," he kept saying. "I'm not getting any younger."

She quipped at him, "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

The others were already in view, and Iggy was forced to drop his moaning. Ari was leaning forward with all of his weight propped up by his crutches; the braces Anne made him wear still strapped to his shins. With a face full of misery, he said to El, "My legs are _killing me._"

She placed a hand on his shoulder. Max, who had been sitting on the floor while waiting for the rest of her family to get there, stood up. "You all ready to make a break for it?" Fang drawled unfocusedly. El couldn't help but notice that the girl he always complained about was standing a total of six feet away from them all, and whispering rapidly in her friend's ear. The sight of her made El so uncomfortable that she put her hand on Ari's shoulder absentmindedly and nodded quickly at Fang. "Let's go _really fast_, okay?"

"Sounds like a plan," Max agreed, sending a fiery glance over her shoulder.

"Can we get some food on the way back?" Ari queried as he pulled his legs along, wincing as he did so. "I'm starving."

"_Omigod, _please Max?" Iggy slid in beside, using that obnoxious "gay man" voice he used when he was trying to be annoying. "There's a Taco Bell a few blocks away, some kid in Statistics came in with about thirty tacos and didn't share today. I want a taco."

He pouted. Iggy seemed to be in a pouty mood today.

Max shrugged and looked at Fang, who was busy making sure Sam didn't step on his heels as she walked right behind them. He muttered something in Max's ear, and she shared her annoyance with a look of disgust. "Tacos it is," was all she said, clearly bothered with whatever Fang had just told her.

Iggy whooped, and Ari stretched what almost qualified as a smile.

* * *

><p>"…I mean, I <em>get<em> why people go on and on about these having, like, grade _D _beef, but, I mean, they're _tacos!_"

Iggy's mouth was positively full of meat.

"This is a _sad excuse _for Mexican food," El groaned, looking as if she was forcing herself to eat it. "I'm literally offended."

Max exasperatedly pressed her forehead against the window and tried hard not to let out a groan while Iggy went on and on about his burrito. Across from him, Ari had his eyes fixed on Ella as haphazardly tried to figure out the most effective way to get the hard-shell taco into his mouth. She was rolling her eyes at Iggy and trying to ignore his senseless babbling. Next to Max, Fang was sipping a Coke after outright refusing to order, even after Iggy jumped on his back. He'd taken his tie off and was looking slightly more attractive than he usually did now that his hair was starting to grow back, wavy and curling at the ends adorably.

_Good God, _she couldn't believe she'd thought that. She chomped down another twisty cinnamon stick. Fang caught her eye and smirked.

"You're in a good mood," Max said.

Underneath the table, his foot bumped hers, and she kicked it back. Their elbows were touching.

And Max was officially turning into a preteen girl.

"So…" El started pointedly. She seemed unsure of whether or not she should speak, like she was chewing on her words or something. "Okay, um, I have something I need to tell you guys."

They all kind of looked at her and stopped eating for a millisecond before Iggy dripped taco grease down his front without noticing and El had to stop to drape a napkin over his lap.

"Well, out with it," Fang said at the same time Iggy exclaimed, "Don't touch me there!"

The people in the booth in front of them glanced over their shoulders and the five flock members looked back awkwardly. All except for their blind embarrassment. Max cleared her throat loudly and glared.

"_Anyway_," El went on, directly ignoring Iggy, "I was in the library and I was searching for something about the bubonic plague, and I somehow found myself on the website of this thing called the Rhode Island Street Institute for Higher Learning. Have any of you heard of it?"

Max looked like she had been slapped across the face and she dropped her napkin onto the table, agape. "_Rhode Island_ Street?" she repeated, grabbing Fang's arm so tightly he opened his mouth in pain. "_Yeah_, I've been getting these brain explosions where Rhode Island Street, like, flashes through my mind and…"

Everyone was looking at her sort of strange, so she waved her hand to dismiss herself. "What does it have to do with everything, Em?"

"Um, well something happened to me where I kind of went into a dissociative state and…typed a lot of stuff? I don't know, somehow I was on the website and it was giving me all this information about experiments at the Institute where we all came from, they'd made a new kind of experiment called OMEGAA. It was pretty weird stuff."

The lights inside of the Taco Bell were hurting Ella's eyes as she waited for everybody to react. They didn't, all waiting to see what Max did so they could follow her lead. Max opened her mouth and closed it a couple of times before finally uttering, "Okay, and did you see anything else?"

Not a word otherwise was said by anyone else around the faux wood table. Ella's taco lay abandoned before her on a pile of napkins and aluminum wrapping. "There was more information – about you and Fang."

Max's eyes met Fang's briefly, and Max nodded.

"There were pictures of the day that you two were born, and how you were both delivered by…the same _mother_. Twins."

Iggy shot Sprite through his nose.

"We're _related?!_" Fang nearly yelled. Max's mouth was wide open. "That's– that's–"

"Incest," Iggy said, staring forward. "That's incest."

"_No,_" El interjected, smacking him on the shoulder, "It was a surrogate mother, you weren't related. They said you guys were a failed experiment and had been retired already. They said we all had."

"Ha!" laughed Iggy, "You guys were naked together for nine months, hahaha!–_ow!_"

Max had pinched the tendon between his shoulder and neck, making him writhe in pain. "Owowow ow, _why do you always hurt the blind kid?_"

Fang kicked him in the shins since he wasn't known for his mercy.

"Em," he barked, "Do you think you could pull the same thing up on my laptop when we get home?"

She shrugged, "I don't know, I can try."

"Trying is good," said Max, who was still trying to process all of this at once. Ari looked positively uncomfortable from his seat and she looked at him quizzically. "Wait, do you _know_ about this?!"

It was evident he didn't want to say anything. But his defenses were up, his shoulders hunched and lips pulled taut over his teeth. "I may have overheard information," he said tightly, looking at his hands.

Max was aghast. "Well, _out_ with it!"

Marius took a deep breath. "I didn't want to tell all of you, I couldn't find time to. I didn't know how…" he paused, as if for a dramatic effect. "Your surrogate mother was my biological mother, Max. Fang. You were made to be the world's most advanced human genetic experiment, and her pregnancy was very hard, she was in a lot for complications. There's a lot of paperwork from her…they told her you two could come home with her, but they were lying. They said you had both died.

"So she tried again about ten years later when she was out of money again, since they paid her a lot to be a vessel. They said my father was an important man, but I don't have any clues about him. They said to look in the name."

"And what the hell does that mean?" Max asked. They were the only customers in the restaurant now.

His great shoulders shrugged. "I have no idea. Doctor ter Borcht told me there was something connecting me to you, Max. I thought maybe you could help me figure it out."

The only problem was, Max had no clue what he was even talking about. Look in the name? They were connected? It didn't make a lot of sense. It was already a lot to process about her and Fang, about how they came into the world and about the woman who bore them, but now this? This final riddle?

_It's up to you to figure it out, Max_, the Voice added helpfully. Max huffed.

"I'm sorry, Ari," she said finally. "I don't know how to help you, I really don't."

He nodded. "That's alright, I had just hoped, you know? Maybe I'd figure it out one day."

"Maybe you will," said Fang. "You've got all the time in the world."

Ari was frowning and shaking his head. "No, I don't," he pulled down his shirt collar to reveal the scarred surface of his skin and turned his back so they all could see. Ella gasped.

"No…" she breathed, reaching out to touch the black lettering on his neck, "that's not possible…"

Ari's expiration date had appeared.

"I have five months to live."

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><p><strong>Plot twist. Please review!<strong>

**~Steph**


	23. Mudblood Tantrum

**Splotchy updates, I'm totally sorry, read my note at the bottom. Enjoy!**

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><p>The weird thing about dying to Ari was that he was not afraid. He wasn't scared one bit. The last four years of his life stretched by so slowly that he may as well have <em>been<em> eighteen years old. Every second he lived was infinitely longer than sixty seconds in the real world – a world where children lived outside the bars of cages and had ice cream when they'd finished their broccoli. As they left the Taco Bell, he pulled himself along with the crutches, for once happy to have them, because the way his braces had been painfully tightened. Pain shot through his legs with every step. They were supposed to be forcing his legs back into a normal shape, but he didn't see the point anymore since he was going to be gone before his pace was corrected. The five walked in the hot Vegas sun, hardly saying a word to each other. He found himself again thinking of what he would have done with his life if he'd been allowed to live longer. Maybe he would have gone to college somewhere and studied law, or science. Maybe he would have been an attorney, or maybe just a clerk at the gas station. Maybe he would have had a life.

He would force himself to stop thinking this way, but other times allowed his mind to go. He enjoyed thinking of how his days could have been carried out if none of this had happened. Sometimes he'd conjure what his family would have been like. The surrogate woman who had been his mother would have taught him to walk and raised him, the father he never knew would have taught him to hit a baseball in the backyard. They'd live in a house by a school sometimes, or a skyscraper, or a ranch house like Anne's. Sometimes he'd have a sister like Ella, or a brother like Iggy.

Ari allowed his eyes to follow El as she walked next to him. The house they lived in reality was coming into view down the road a ways, and El was squinting to keep the place in focus, while the heat waves danced upon the asphalt. As if she could feel Ari's eyes on her, El looked back at him and grinned. Her bright, encouraging smile was the only thing that felt real to him at times. It was that smile that'd taught him how good life could be.

Ari thought of the _Magic Tree House _book in his backpack. A smile, a real smile, crept up his face. He couldn't wait to show Ella how much he had read, she'd be so proud of him. He could hardly wait to see her face and hear the nice words she would say to him. He liked it when she said nice things to him, it made him glow on the inside like he himself had turned into a light. He no longer needed to shed light into the darkness alone anymore – he had a family now. Ari could die in peace.

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><p>Anne was on the phone when the front door slammed and all the kids filed through the front door. She peeked around the wall and disappeared while Max dropped her backpack beside her shoes, unintentionally causing a traffic hazard. Iggy tripped over it.<p>

"I'm making an important call!" Anne called over his swearing, "I'll be in my bedroom if any of you need me…"

Iggy was pulling his tie away from his face and undoing the top few buttons of his white uniform shirt with precision. He angrily threw the tie over his shoulder so that it _fwapped_ against the carpet. "And _we'll _be pressed up against your door," Iggy said in a low voice, "Listening to every word you say and plotting your demise."

El made a farting noise with her mouth and poked him in the navel. "Whoops, gotcha."

He flipped around and grabbed her sides while she squealed, "_Hey!_"

"C'mon, Ari!" Iggy called to the Eraser, who was trailing behind with a smirk plastered to his scarred face. Iggy dashed up the stairs behind El, who unkindly yelled, "MUDBLOOD!" at him.

Max rolled her eyes and started to walk down the hall, making her way over to the kitchen to see what she could find to eat. Her stomach was making noises and demanding sustenance. A jar of Nutella on the counter caught her eye, and she could discern from the bread crumbs and lack of further evidence in the sink, that toast was all Anne had eaten all day. The kitchen was dimly lit, aside from the single hanging light over the table. All chairs but one were perfectly pressed to designated places.

"_Anne's _had a busy morning," she observed to Fang, who she just knew was standing right behind her. She turned and smiled at him. The others could be heard thundering upstairs, causing what was probably interrupting whatever important meeting Anne was prattling to. Iggy hooted and El shrieked. A door slammed. Ari's crutches clicked along.

The sun was fading from the windows and the kitchen was steadily draining of the vibrancy of color it at usual portrayed. Fang's eyes followed the noise above their heads, and then as Max's followed his own, Fang tossed his unknotted tie around Max's neck, reeling her into his temperate embrace. The soft, white cotton of his undershirt brushed her lips and drew gently across her cheek. She sighed.

"I have no idea what we're going to do now," Max admitted, hugging her arms around his waist. "An expiration date," she said, pulling back, "So they still do those. I had no idea."

"Yeah, crazy," Fang said with a bitter hint of sarcasm.

Max was in sort of a suppressed state of shock, she was trying to pretend that what was happening wasn't really happening, and that Anne wasn't some crazy FBI agent that may or may have not been working behind their backs. She hadn't said anything to Fang about it yet, but she was more strongly sensing something was up with the woman. She was up late all the time on calls and was increasingly interested in everyone's state of happiness.

"Don't you think that it's strange," Max thought aloud, "that we never hear anything further in the case against Itex and the mad scientists therin?"

Fang nodded. "I was waiting until you said something," he admitted, "We were supposedly going to testify a month after it all 'happened', but nothing's going on."

"Except Anne's amplified fascination with our level of amusement."

There was a pause. Fang's stomach growled, making Max suddenly look up at his face and split a grin.

"Wanna make me a sandwich?" he asked jokingly, she scowled at him.

"Yeah, peanut butter work for you?" she said anyway.

"You can't make any other form of food, can you?" he joked.

"Nope, peanut butter and jelly is pretty much where we draw the line."

She was uncharacteristically pulling the bread and _Peter Pan_ jar out of the cubbard.

"You're kidding," Fang laughed, "You're not seriously…"

"I'm full of surprises."

She spread a fair amount of raspberry jelly over a layer of peanut butter and cut the crusts off the bread. His eyes twinkled while she handed the sandwich to him, without a plate or a napkin underneath.

"A _fine_ sandwich," Fang approved, ripping off a corner and putting it in his mouth. "You know what this means now, don't you?"

Her elbows made a blunted noise on the granite island. She placed her hands on her face. "I don't know, what?"

Eyes playing tag with hers, he shoved another corner of the sandwich into her mouth. "Now you have to bear my children and work the farm."

They laughed together, in the shadow of the news that had shattered the perfect picture of a family the five had slowly become.

"He won't really die, will he?" Fang inquired, his voice had an edge to it like he actually gave a shit about the Eraser. Amidst the Maytag washing machine and Kenmore appliances, one would hardly be able to believe that they, you know, had wings and were waiting for Ari to drop dead. It had been fun to pretend to be an actual family for the last few months, but it seemed like this reality finally was rolling to an end.

"I know he will," Max said. "When has life ever been fair to us?"

"Never."

She forced herself to breathe through the lump in her throat. "Exactly. In five months, we're going to need a place to bury his body. I don't want to do it here."

"So you're saying…"

"I'm saying we're leaving, basically," Max said, putting her face in her hands. "I can't take this anymore, I don't want to live under this roof and answer to Anne's rules for another minute. I'm sick of doing homework and pretending I care what my grade point average is. I'm sick of cereal every morning for breakfast."

"I don't hate that bit so much," Fang said.

"-What I _mean_ is that I hate civilization, in a nutshell. I just want to go home, I want our cabin back, I want _Lou_."

Fang smoothed her hair out of her eyes, and she relished the feeling of his hand against her cheek. "No rules," he said, "No responsibility."

"Exactly. Maximum Ride and her Band of Merry Mutants."

* * *

><p>Ella watched Ari like he was going to drop dead suddenly. Whenever he passed her on the way to the kitchen, she felt the motherly urge to touch his back or pull him into a hug. She wanted to pour his Wheeties for him and not pee in them, which was more than she could say for Iggy and Fang, who kept bugging her about getting back onto the Itex website. He was sitting in the chair across from her in the family room sipping a Sprite from the can while reading his <em>Magic Treehouse <em>book.

Goddamn, she didn't even want to get back onto that dreaded page, she just wanted to read with Ari. The page included some of the greatest violations of human rights that she had ever encountered in her life. Though she herself had never known the sterile confines of the Institute, she had heard more than enough stories to make her never want to find out anything more. Fang finally later got her alone that evening and dropped his self-refurbished laptop onto her desk, giving her an inflexible stare.

"Site. Now," he commanded.

"Yes'm," she grumbled.

Ella rolled her eyes and put her hands on the keyboard, getting that same feeling in her mind of what Fang's passcode was and, without really realizing it, typing it right in while Fang watched, gobsmacked. She continued by pulling up a Google Chrome window and writing the same chain of clicks and turns that had lead her to the Itex site in the first place, the Rhode Island Street Institute for Higher Learning. Fang's brow furrowed, but he didn't say anything as his rigid jaw set, all his weight resting on his left leg with his arms crossed. It was just like it had been in the library, El's fingers found the buttons on their own accord and tacked in the right sequence of keys so that a window popped up and she was able to again force her way into the site.

Fang was shaking his head. "How the _hell_ do you dothat?"

El shrugged. "I dunno. It's like my fingers are magnets, and the keys are metal. I'm just…drawn to the right keys, I don't know how it works."

"Weird."

"Tell me about it."

Now she was clicking through various other pages, bringing up all sorts of miscellaneous subjects and projects. "What did you want to look for?" El asked absentmindedly. "Did you have an idea?"

"Look for Ari," said another voice directly behind El's head, making her look up in surprise. Max was holding a slip of paper in one hand and her face was flush with color as if she had just ran a marathon."We need to figure out where Ari's dad came from."

Fang looked at her with a furrow to his brow.

"Oookay," El drawled, clicking and typing.

A few bars had appeared and she tacked around a bit. A file popped up with all of the information for the various Erasers. There were strips of photos with text, animals changing between human and beast. Remembering the last time she had seen Erasers up close and personal, El shook involuntarily. There were pictures depicting every other lupine hybrid, but none of which showed Ari. In fact, there was no mention of him - anywhere on the site.

"Do you think anyone can see we've been here?" Fang asked El, his head stooping in close proximity with her shoulder.

El shrugged, noticing how Max was bouncing with ants in her pants.

"Pessimism is good," El said, "We can avoid being horrified if something bad happens, and pleasantly delighted if nothing does."

"You've got a terrible perspective on life," Fang said.

"Thanks."

Her fingers skimmed the track-pad on the laptop, clicking and pecking for more information. There were bios of different Erasers, sorted by numbers, not names. Did _Erasers even have names?_ she wondered, a terrible feeling knotting her gut.

Max, pushing the piece of paper into Fang's hand. His eyes narrowed in order to get a better look at her cramped chicken-scrawl. "I started going through all the significant names I could think of to pull clues."

"Good thinking."

_ Itex Institute – Dr. ter Borcht, Dr. Gunther-Haagan, Dr. Reilly O'Donnell, Dr. David Louis_

_ Rhode Island Street Institute for Higher Learning_

_ T E R_

_ A NT U H GH E R_

_ L_

_ D A_

_ I_

_ Dr. Valencia Martinez?_

_ Marius Odil – Surrogate mom (M and F) biological mom_

_ Maximum Ride – Connection to Ari_

_ Fang – No connection except mom_

_ L_

_ R_

"Alright..." Fang said while El swiveled her chair around to look at the piece of paper. "What do we get from this?"

Max sat down on the floor of his room and gestured for him to do the same. "Well, look," she pointed her middle finger the way she always did instead of using her first finger, the same way Lou used to. "'Ter Borcht' doesn't work with 'Marius' because it doesn't have the same letters, the same way the 'Rhode Island Street' can't fit 'ter Borcht', 'Gunther-Haagan.'"

"Louis' name works, though, for 'Rhode Island Institute'," Fang pointed out after scanning it for a while and then frowned and made a sound in his throat. "Oh, wait, his first name doesn't fit, there's no V."

"I don't think that's all important, though," Max said confidently, "If they were trying to get Lou's name to work, they would just use his last name. See? L-O-U-I-S, they fit right there."

It didn't make perfect sense to _El,_ who was trying to figure out where all of this belonged, the final riddle to 'look in the name'.

"Where was Lou born?" she asked brightly. "Maybe we're supposed to look _in _the name, like in the meaning or something?"

Fang's eyebrows drew together tightly as he tried to remember. "Colorado?"

"California," Max answered at the same time, something inside her head pricking her memory. "Remember, he had us make all those fake IDs? I filled his out."

_Wait._ "Isn't there a reason they're called 'fake'?" El wondered aloud.

"Birth place is arbitrary," Fang said, "It doesn't _matter _where he was born."

"Maybe look up something in connection to 'Marius' or 'Odil'," Max said.

"Hold on a sec, look at the letters."

Max was kneading her temples tiredly. "I need some orange juice..."

She had her head bent over the sheet of paper, counting letters and their corresponding significance to Ari's name. Fang couldn't exactly see what she was doing, but every bit of her aura screamed _on to something_ while her eyes darted back and forth and the pencil tapped each time she transferred a letter. She scratched them in.

_I AM DR LOUIS, _it said.

Dead silence blanketed the three. They stared.

"What on earth does that mean?" El asked.

Nobody wanted to say.

"I think..." Fang said in disbelief, "...does that mean Ari's Lou's son? His clone?"

"But that can't be true," Max blurted, "No, _no, _Lou was one of the good guys, he got us out. He was one of the good guys!"

She looked at El and Fang, who both wore a grim mask upon their faces.

A little stronger and with authority, Max stated, "He was one of the good guys. I just know it, that can't be true."

Fang's face was sliding. "Max-"

"It's not true!" she shouted. "I know Lou, he was like my dad, Fang, how can you believe-!"

She made a move to shove him while he tried to take hold of her arms and calm her down. "HE WAS MY DAD TOO," Fang shouted back, being no gentleman, gearing up physically to fight her if she started.

"HOW CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?"

"_CALM THE FUCK DOWN!"_

It was El who came up between the two and shoved them opposite directions, hard. "_SHUT UP!" _she commanded, making Max and Fang look at her in utter surprise. Ella never yelled.

Max slumped to the wall, her hands on her head, and she bowed, breathing heavily while she tried to keep the waterworks down. "I never wanted to believe..." she said. "I mean, I saw, I thought..."

"You thought what?" Fang asked tonelessly, sitting down in a chair, tears of anger burning in his eyes.

Max swallowed and looked up at the ceiling. "When I was at the Institute," she started in a wavering voice, "And I was in between awake and asleep after the...Ari came in and I thought he was Lou, his outline."

"You never told me that," Fang said emptily.

"I thought he was Lou," she said, and El finally put the pieces together in her head. The way Ari cocked his head when he was reading, the way he was left-handed. The way he sneezed every time he walked outside, and that look in his eyes when he stifled a laugh.

Fang was shaking his head with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. There was one thing all three of them wanted to say, and she knew it. It was that they didn't want to believe it was true.

So, of course, Iggy and Ari came thundering up the stairs at that very moment to see what they'd been yelling about.

"What's going on?" Iggy demanded. "El, did they hurt you? I'll hex 'em! Bat bogey hex!"

The joke fell upon deaf ears, the silence replicated by Ari, who unlike Iggy, could see the dismal looks on the other three's faces.

."What happened? What did you find out?" His voice was soft and dreary. There was a pause while Fang looked pointedly at Max for an order, and received a nod of allowance.

"It's your father, Ari," Fang matched his tone of voice and said delicately, "We think your father was Lou."

If this shocked Ari, he showed no sign of amazement. Instead, he bowed his head and closed his eyes, putting the weight of his body into his crutches. "I'm sorry."

Nobody told him what his name spelled, but El handed him piece of paper Max had written on with an apologetic look across her face. The silence was deafening. When El finally looked over at Iggy, his face was red and he was shaking. She got up from her chair and walked over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. Though usually Ella's touch calmed him, tonight he spun and punched a hole in the wall, the crack echoing in the framework of the house.

_"Iggy!"_

"It's not _fair," _he seethed through clenched teeth. "_Don't_ you touch me."

"Ig-"

"You know what this means, don't you?" he rounded on her, "_Everything he ever told us was a lie, _do you _understand _that?"

"Yes, I-"

"_Everything he taught us, _Ella. _EVERYTHING!"_

Like Fang, his eyes were starting to redden, wracked to the bone by the realization of the severity of their find. Iggy's shoulders shook while the bleary, hot tears began to pour out of his eyes. Ari watched like a frightened child, hollow and absent. Ella didn't know whom to comfort; the child or the blind one. Max took the initiative. Catching El's eye, she nodded at Iggy and started towards Ari, her eyes raking over him in a new light, noticing his build and makeup.

"Come on, Ari," she took his elbow and turned him towards the door. "I'll make you some chocolate milk."

With a pang, Ella remembered that's how Lou would make everything better - chocolate milk and a story.

Fang got up and followed Max slowly, looking back once at El holding the sobbing Iggy, and then turning to leave them alone in the room. Iggy had sat down on El's bed with his head in his hands. There was something deeply unsettling about seeing him cry, probably because he always seemed to be the resilient one, the one whose very skin seemed to repel negativity. Knowing it was just the two of them in her room now, Iggy finally snuffed, "It's so much harder for me to be lost than it is for you guys," he sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve. "Like you can go from place to place and it's easy, but for me, I'm lost all over again. I just wish something could go right for us for a change."

Ella placed her hand on his back where his wings met his skin and rubbed in soothing circles.

"I know," is all she said, because whether he wanted to admit it or not, she did.

"And, like, Lou taught me _everything I know_...and now he's just one of the whitecoats. He _created _Ari..."

His fists balled up again and he breathed deeply, as if to not lash out again. "This _sucks!"_

She gathered him in her tiny arms and held him tightly as if he were a child, rocking him back and forth, trying not to start bawling herself.

"I know, Iggy. I know."

* * *

><p><strong>So, um, sorry I haven't updated in a while, lemme fill you in on some stuff happening in my life.<strong>

** I'm on eight medications and my antipsychotics for my paranoia and self-harming got increased, sooo I'm tired all the time. I'd just like to clarify that not everyone on antipsychs are completely off-the-wall bonkers insane. I just tend to think people are out to get me, and cut a bunch 'cause I feel like I need to be punished. Which, put into writing, does sound pretty bad and damn, maybe I'm crazier than I thought. **

**I also learned from my therapist that people who are slightly mental tend to, in some cases, think on a whole different level than normal people. Like, our minds function so fast that we need drugs to slow us down. So, while I can write well and do creative stuff, I also have a lot of psychological difficulties like my 4S, sensory processing disorder, and depression with spots of psychosis. I'm like Van Gough, kind of. **

**So anyway, I started college on Monday, love it so far, made two friends, and I'm starting to get tired of the train. That damn train takes forever to get to school, ughhh, and I get motion-sick, so I can't read D: But now I have all kinds of homework to do and trying to make those "college friends" our parents always talk about. Which is hard, not living on campus. **

**I got re-baptized on Sunday, too, which was awesome. Basically, I lost my faith entirely at a point in the last eight months, and I've realized my need for God because I can't fight all my battles myself, and I've realized that God has a plan for everything. All the shit I've gone through in the last year happened for a reason, and that makes me feel like I shouldn't kill myself, which was why I was in the hospital. But I don't want to die now, and I wanted to make it public that I've trusted in Christ again as my savior, so I got rebaptized on Sunday as a physical declaration of my newfound faith. **

**So, basically, I haven't been updating all the time 'cause a lot has been going on in my life right now. It's a big time for me, freshman in college and starting a new life, it's a lot, and I'm sorry I haven't written all that much. Plus the weight of pill-exhaustion...**

**Thank you all for keeping up with me and _The Surrogate_, I love all of my reviews, you are all the BOMB. Thank you for your love and support for me :) **

**~Steph **


	24. The Chapter Where Ari Didn't Grow a Tail

**I'll begin by saying sorry for the year-long hiatus! I never could have imagined how much time college takes up, or the amount of energy. My brain was fried, like, 90% of the time and I didn't have the inspiration to write because of stress! But hey, I'm back for now, and here's a new chapter to the story :) I thought I should really do this story justice and actually finish it. Finish _something _for once in my life! **

**I certainly hope there are still enough of you out there to receive this chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Anne talked on the phone long into the night. Max sat outside her door with her genetically-enhanced auditory processing system on high alert. Two hours past midnight, she'd heard enough to know this: Anne wasn't on their side. This was hardly a surprise, what with all the bad things they had been finding out that week.<p>

Anne's audibly blonde voice said more than a few times, "We've only got two more weeks," which was more than enough evidence for Max to know that they needed to get going. _Soon_. As for secrecy, their caretaker was a total amateur; she hadn't bothered to check this entire time to see if anyone would be listening in. What kind of double agent could she be if she never checked for eavesdroppers?

But the question still stood. Two more weeks until what? Until she poisoned their chocolate chip cookies and hid their bodies under the floorboards?

At three-o-clock, Anne finally went to bed, pressing the _END _button on the landline with a blip. Max gingerly picked herself up and snuck off to her bedroom, but she couldn't sleep. Hours before the sun had even breathed across the salt flats and the air was fresh and cool, Max was still rummaging through her room as quietly as she could. She was throwing the most crucial items she owned into the backpack Anne had bought her for school. Several shirts, two pairs of jeans, bear spray, lengths of rope she had hidden in her closet. Boxes of crackers, cans of ravioli and peaches and tuna. She muttered to herself in frustration while doing so. She was so angry with herself for trusting the woman too long – after all the weird things she did but Max dismissed. When she couldn't stand it any longer, she crept the short distance between hers and Fang's room. The floor creaked along the way and she winced at the sound as it broke the calm of the house.

Fang was awake before she even set foot in his bedroom. "What is it?" he asked, on alert-mode, "Is something wrong?"

"We should go," Max said urgently, her eyes lingering for a second over his bare torso. Within a second he located a shirt laying abandoned on the floor by his feet and pulled it over his head.

"What, what - now? It's..." he checked his alarm clock, "...it's four in the morning, are you mad?"

"I heard Anne," Max started, exhaustion in her tone and body language, "She's planning to do away with us in two weeks. We can't wait, Fang, I've got everything we need packed, we should just go."

He ushered Max inside of his room and closed the door behind them, turning the handle so the mechanism wouldn't make a noise when the door latched. "Max, we need to talk about this," he said, trying carefully to not launch her into a frenzy. "You need some sleep. You'll think better in the-"

"_I am thinking just fine right now!" _she yelled in a whisper, starting on him.

Without even blinking, he took her shoulders. "Shh...just sit down, come on."

Her eyes were starting to blur with the weight of sleep-deprivation, and she let Fang manhandle her into a sitting position on the side of his bed. She slumped over and hugged his pillow, breathing in his fresh-air, foresty scent. "How do you still smell like the cabin?" she asked quietly while he lay down on his elbow beside her.

"It's my superpower."

"We'll call you the Pine Beetle," she gave him a weak smile and yawned hugely. "We need to look for Rhode Island Street."

"Shh," he whispered and leaned in close, kissing her lips gently. "You need to sleep, I mean it. You may be the boss, but I wear the boots in this relationship."

"Psh, as if," Max whispered back. "Since I'm the girl, can I braid your rattail?"

"I don't have a rattail."

"It gets so long in the back- " her hand went to the base of his hairline on his neck.

He slapped it away. "I swear, I will tickle you."

A door opened down the hall a bit, and the two hushed up quickly. "Are you guys having sex?" Iggy's voice whispered loudly through the door.

_"No!"_ they said in unison.

"Fine," Max got up from the bed, "Fine, I'll go. Night, Fang."

Iggy laughed on the other side of the door, and his footsteps could be heard returning to his room.

Fang stood up so that he was taller than Max again and looked down at her, wrapping her in his arms and squeezing her tight.

"Goodnight," he whispered, "I love you. We'll talk more about this in the morning."

* * *

><p>As soon as the sun was up, Max wasted no time. She had decided, they weren't going to stay another two weeks as long as she was in charge. She woke early and gathered everyone into laundry room where the machine was rumbling loud enough for them not to be overheard, ignoring their tired protests. Ari was last and he kicked the door shut with his crutch. They all looked towards Max, who had an authoritative stoic look upon her face and was standing with her arms crossed.<p>

"Um, so…" El began, "What's this about?"

"We're leaving," Max said bluntly. "This week. I can't stand to be here any longer. Anne's planning something against us, I heard her talking last night, I was sitting outside her door."

Iggy scoffed, "What were you doing, listening to her shower?"

Max scowled. "Spying, more like. She was saying that something is gonna happen in two weeks. Something bad. We're going, and that's final."

Eyebrows drawn together, her irises rested on Ari, whose eyes held more concern than the others'.

"We need to find the Rhode Island Street Institute for Higher Living," Max continued, taking a breath, "It's where the Voice keeps telling me we'll find something important. It could be important like learning the truth about Louis, or finding something about this surrogate mother. I think it's a start."

The three younger kids looked at Max with varying levels of confusion, and worry.

"…And this 'Voice' would be…?" El asked slowly.

Max looked down at her bare feet. "The Voice that comes into my head…when I have those brain-explosions."

They weren't following.

"I get these terrible, brain-shattering headaches," she explained further, "and when I do, I see green binary code and the image of this building, and the words 'Rhode Island Street Institute for Higher Learning'. A Voice talks to me, telling me what to do."

Ella and Iggy shared a blank look, but Ari was watching Max evenly with understanding. "I used to get headaches like that," he said. "When I was at the Itex Institute, they'd shut me in a room with an experiment and then my head would explode and I would completely lose control of myself."

He did not need to say, but everyone knew what that lead to.

"That's not right," El said.

Iggy asked, "Why do you think they're targeting _you?_"

There was a beat and Fang said, "Max, I think they want you to come back to them, that's why they're sending you these visions."

"Maybe we shouldn't even go after the Institute at all," suggested El, "We could find somewhere to live like we did before. Be a family."

Max wanted that so badly, but she knew better."I don't think that's an option."

They were all quiet for a bit, and Max tried not to meet their eyes.

"We can figure out the details later," said Fang finally, "but I think we should leave all the same."

Max nodded. "The day after tomorrow, be ready to go an hour before sunrise."

* * *

><p>Ella and Iggy went back to El's room after the meeting. They sat on El's plush comforter - the nice one Anne had bought El on a Target escapade the day after the flock arrived at the house with the red door. Iggy rested his head on the wall beside the bed.<p>

"I hate travelling," he said glumly.

"I hear ya'," El responded, stretching her own legs so they lay across his.

Iggy sighed, running his hand over her shaved calf. "Ooo, soft..."

"You like soft things, don't you?"

"Mmm, quite."

Ella's stomach growled loud enough for the both of them to hear. "Anne didn't fix breakfast this morning," El complained, begrudged. "She may be evil and damned and all, but _really_."

Iggy's head was bouncing to some sort of beat. "Know what?"

"What?"

"We should take Ari and go to McDonalds or something. Since he's dying. Get a McMuffin, or whatever they serve in the mornings."

"Uh, shouldn't we ask Max and Fang before we go?" She rubbed an eye with her thumb.

A smirk spread on Iggy's face. His eyes were closed to hide his cloudy, sunken sockets. "Nah, I think they'd rather be left here. Alone. _Together_. You know what I mean?"

Ella couldn't help but smile smartly.

They got up from the bed and Iggy twirled El in a circle like they were dancing, and then they were off to find Ari. The three of them started walking in the general direction of the town, toward the glorious golden arches erected in the distance on an elevated pole.

"McWonderland," said Iggy when El pointed it out to him.

"Manna from heaven," El said, entering through the fingerprinted glass door on the side of the building. It was clear the building had recently been redone, as all the tables were modern-looking and the employees no longer looked like they'd just rolled in a grease bath. Well, except for one.

Iggy had grabbed El's hand so he didn't run the chance of crashing into walls. Electronics behind the counter before them beeped, and the ant-like employees buzzed about as they placed food on trays and filled chocolate shakes. The greasy serving boy at the ice cream machine smiled at Ella, and she made a demeaning comment to Iggy.

"Severus Snape," he grinned, squeezing her hand.

"Dude, he could oil a car with his _face_."

"I smell pancakes," Ari breathed on El's other side. A Zumiez sticker had been slapped on the rod of his left crutch, and another beside it saying, "Rock For Life" with a picture of a fetal child shredding on a guitar. She had to wonder what had happened there.

"I can take the next guest," a woman cashier called loudly into the crowd of hungry customers. They were next in line behind a grossly obese man with his twiggy two year old. When they had ordered and the man swung the child up onto his shoulder, Ella led Iggy to the desk.

"I'll have, like, six egg McMuffins and three hash browns. And pancakes. Please."

The Hispanic lady raised an eyebrow and muttered something in Spanish.

As the woman started to finish up the transaction and licked a finger and pulled a receipt up, El realized the lady thought all of this food was for all the bird kids to split. "Oh, we're not done yet!" El burst, "Sorry, _I'll_ have three servings of pancakes, an egg McMuffin, six hash browns and a Sprite."

The woman's eyes were wide.

"Just sausage for me, thanks," said Ari in his deep, slow voice. "Thirty sausage patties. Oh, and do hash browns come with that? I'd like a whole lot of hash browns."

"Nine hash browns" El provided helpfully.

The woman's big brown eyes bugged out unusually and she pouched her lips, giving them a sly serving of attitude. "Are you _really_ going to eat all this? We don't _appreciate _people wasting our food."

However it was evident the three wanted the food, as each kid let out a different variation of distress.

"We just...eat a lot."

"We're training to be Olympic swimmers," Ella piped in.

The lady's eyes fell on Ari, with his bent legs and warped posture.

"Uh, doggie paddle," said the Eraser seriously.

The cashier rolled her eyes. "Okay then, I guess that will be seven egg McMuffins, thirty sausage patties, twelve hash browns - three for the kid -, three orders of pancakes, and a Sprite?"

"And milk," added Iggy thoughtfully. "I'd like some milk."

"Water," said Ari.

"Alright," the woman said. It took her several minutes to enter all their food into the computer, and then she looked expectedly at El_._ "Forty dollars and fifty-six cents is your total."

While El's heart dropped into her stomach, Iggy pulled out a fifty. "Keep the change," he quipped, as if he was dismissing a serf.

The lady licked her finger again and opened the cash register with a _ding._

"Where the hell did you get that money?" El demanded of Iggy when they finally reached their table, disgustingly diving into their food.

Iggy gave a little smile as he finished his third McMuffin, wiping his mouth with a scratchy paper napkin almost like he was half civilized. "Anne doesn't exactly do a great job of guarding the treasure trove, does she?"

"How'd you know which bill to take?" Ari inquired, wolfing down his sausage in every literal meaning of the word.

"I assumed they were all big bills. Why, how much did I give her?"

"Fifty, so that's about a ten dollar tip."

"And she wasn't even that _nice_," Iggy grumbled.

Ari smiled.

* * *

><p>"Where are the kids?" Max swung herself into Fang's doorway. He was busy laying out clothes on his bed to decide what to take. Anne had bought them such nice clothes, it was hard to judge which would last the longest. Cans of food were stacked just inside his closet, so that Anne wouldn't see them if she popped her head into his room. Ravioli, SPAM, green beans, you name it.<p>

"Ari said something about McDonald's."Fang looked up from his meticulous work.

"Oh," was all Max said. She sat on his bed, rubbing her temple absentmindedly with her fingers.

"Headache?" he asked.

"It's getting there."

Fang frowned. He dipped into his backpack and pulled out a white canister, throwing it to her. It rattled as if full of Skittles. "Take three of those."

"What is it?"

"Crack cocaine."

She smiled. "Well in _that _case."

The lid easily cracked off with a flick of her fingers and she broke the safety seal with her fingernail. She popped three pills and reached for the glass Fang had on his bedside table to drown them down.

"Drink some more water, maybe that'll help," he said, throwing her his water bottle as well.

"You make an excellent slave," Max remarked after a long gulp. "Can you rub my feet too?"

He scowled like she knew he would. He had a thing about feet.

Several black shirts made it into his backpack, along with a couple pairs of dark jeans and black socks. There were a few things on his shelf that he grabbed as well, including the picture El had retrieved from the burning house of all of them and Lou. The sight of the doctor made Max's heart wrench, reminding her of the night before. Fang cleared the rest of his clothes off of his bed and returned them to his dresser, like the neat freak he was.

"I won't rub your feet," he said, coming to sit beside her, "but I could rub your back if you wanted."

Secretly, Fang just wanted any excuse to touch Max and be close to her. They hadn't had much contact that week aside from that morning.

Max's face softened while she looked at him. "Okay," she said, laying down on her stomach. "Maybe you should close the door. The Annemeister might get us."

He did so quietly so that they wouldn't be disturbed and then lifted her shirt to expose her back, waiting to see if she'd stop him. When she didn't, he began making slow circles on one side of her spine, and then the other. She breathed slowly and murmured as he kneaded knots out of her back. He worked for several minutes and then stooped so his lips were at the nape of her neck, kissing her there. She rolled so that she was facing him, a hand on his cheek inviting him closer. He lay down nearly on top of her and gathered her in his arms as he kissed her deeply. And to his complete satisfaction, Max kissed him back, though not as hungrily as he, and Fang forced himself to be gentler. He didn't want her to freak out, given what had happened to her back at the Institute. He was surprised she would go this far with him, right here and now, as they thoroughly made out on his bed. But he was more than happy. Her shirt riding up drove him crazy when his hands found her exposed skin. He kissed her cheeks, along her jaw line, and down her neck to the hollow of her throat. He tried to convey every bit of his love for her through his actions, and she did the same, he could feel it. When he wanted to go even further, he made himself draw back, pecking Max's lips once, twice, and then three times before he grudgingly pulled himself away.

Max was flushed and looked more alive than he'd seen her in a long time.

"That was…" he began, and she smiled, looking embarrassed. "What?" he asked.

After a moment of what looked like indecisiveness, Max said quietly, "I think I love you."

It was the first time she had ever said that to him, and he lit up inside, taking her in his arms again and embracing her as before. They kissed, passionate and zealous, until there were two raps on the door. It opened before either of them could jump apart, giving them zero time to change their position. In all of a second, El took in their intimate hold, squealed, and shut the door behind her. She ran down the hall shouting, "Ig! You owe me twenty bucks!"

_"__Did Ari actually grow a tail?" _they heard from farther down.

_"__Max and Fang were sucking face!"_

With a burst of semi-nervous laughter, Max and Fang looked at each other and pulled different faces. "_Shit_," Max groaned.

Fang just smiled and pressed his lips against her cheek.

* * *

><p>Worried that Anne would find out about their plan, Ari pulled himself away from the drama unfolding downstairs and went to look for their caretaker. It was unusual that she was being so scarce, since she always seemed to be hounding their every step no matter where they went. Especially his. Ari thought it was because she was worried he'd morph and tear the whole family to shreds. Thanks to the braces and several months of doctor's visits, he was able to almost walk like a normal person. Leaving his crutches propped up against his bed, he used the walls for support occasionally while he starting down the hall towards Anne's room. Without the crutches, he was able to avoid the clicking noises that always gave him away when he approached. He followed her scent easily because of her pungent perfume. Mistake number one. Who was she trying to smell like? Oprah?<p>

Iggy and Ella had both stuck their heads into Fang's room, and there was some shouting. Ari ignored it and followed Anne's trail down the stairs. Was she completely ignoring the fact that Ella had loudly announced Max and Fang being completely disobedient?

It was certainly strange.

He put all of his weight on the stair rail, worrying at how the wood creaked. The steps were a small challenge, but he managed to reach the bottom without too much exertion. From there, the trail went through the kitchen, where the it briefly stopped at the fridge. It continued to a door he had never paid much attention to, one around the corner next to the garage. Ari frowned. He had always thought this was a coat closet, how could it stop there?

As carefully as he could, he turned the round door handle, clenching his teeth tightly. He prepared for the worst - bodies or something - but when he got the door open, it was completely ordinary. An ordinary coat closet.

_That didn't make any sense_, the trail stopped _here_. Ari pushed a few coats out of the way and felt the wall behind them, looking for a false door. Nothing. He used his fingernails to trace the corners. Still nothing. The floor was carpeted, which was weird, because the whole house was hardwood floor.

Mistake number two.

The carpet lifted up, and underneath it was a handle which blended in with the floor.

Maybe he should get Ella. Maybe he should get _Max._

Before he even had time to decide what his next step would be, he could hear Anne coming up the stairs. _Dammit!_ he thought quickly, closing the closet door and darting around the corner and into the kitchen. He opened a cupboard in a hurry and pretended to be getting a bowl while Anne at last resurfaced to the main floor. With his delicate hearing, he gathered there was quite a vast expanse beneath the trap door, given how the sounds vibrated against the walls below. The little door shut, and then so did the closet door following it. He heard Anne brush dust off of her clothes.

"Luke!" she said in surprise when she turned the corner. "I thought you went out?"

He watched her wondrously and almost completely forgot what he was doing.

"Uh–" he managed, but she cut him off.

"Where are your crutches?"

Mom-Vision. He shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"In my...room," he said with a dry mouth. "Must have forgot them. Cereal. I'm…having cereal. Breakfast, right? Yum!"

But Anne was onto him "Didn't you go out for breakfast just now?"

"…Um, yeah, but I'm an Eraser. I get hungry. I could probably eat _you_," Ari said in defense.

Anne scowled, and Ari said under his breath, "Not that you'd taste very good."

He walked to a different cabinet in search of cereal.

_Mmm, Coco Puffs_.

"Your legs are looking good," Anne commented, looking at his stature. Granted, it had improved quite a bit from what it was before the FBI found them. Or whoever Anne had said she was with. "Maybe in a month you'll be able to walk normally?"

_I don't have a month_, he thought regretfully. Not that he was going to live very much longer anyway, so he guessed it didn't matter. He was happy, for now.

"Maybe," he gave her a small smile, one that didn't meet his eyes.

Anne watched him for a little while, making him sort of uncomfortable. "Are you just going stand there and watch me eat?" he asked, his eyebrows questioning her sanity.

"Um, no, sorry I'm just going to go to my office, I'll leave you alone," she said quickly. He could tell she was tired.

She was such a freak.

"Let me know if you need me, okay?"

Ari gave her another weird smile and settled into a chair at the table. She turned the corner and left. He immediately emptied his cereal into the sink, scraping it so all of the puffs went down the drain. He quietly hurried up the stairs as fast as he could without making noise or falling down. The elbow crutches were still up against his bed, just like he'd left them. Ari quickly slid them into place and followed the flock's scent to Ella's room. T

hey were all gathered around Fang's laptop, eyes glued to the screen.

"Hey, Ari," El looked up and gave him a smile. Her hair was in a loose ponytail, strands of her hair falling out all over the place, but she still looked perfect.

He composed himself, bouncing on his toes a bit. "Um," he said in his low voice, "I need to tell you guys something."

"Does it have to be _now?_" Fang asked impatiently while El purposely backed her heavy rolly-chair over his foot.

"Ow! What the-"

"What Fang is _trying_ to say is that we have something to tell you too. And it's important," she corrected. She turned the computer screen around to reveal a picture of a Caucasian woman in a hospital gown. Her eyes were dark and her face was lined with exhaustion. She was abundantly pregnant.

Ari's mouth dropped. "Is that…?"

"Your mom," Max said. "And Fang's and my surrogate mother."

All Ari could do was stare. His eyes searched the photograph for answers. "Where did you find this?" was the only thing he could say.

"The deep web," said Iggy, who was leaning against the wall behind El's desk, biting a nail. Max always told him to stop that, but now she even didn't bother. "Just some really, really well-hidden files located in the belly of some supercomputer," Iggy continued. "It has files on _everything_."

"How are you viewing what's inside another computer?" Ari sat down on El's bed, placing his crutches on the floor.

El shrugged. "_I _don't even know," she said, her fingers starting to type again with inhuman speed.

"There is something seriously wrong with your brain," Iggy commented.

Ari wanted to know more about his mother and pressed, "Does it say where she lives? Or what her name is?"

"Fay Ethans, one-oh-five Harrison St, Hawthorne, Nevada, eight-nine-four-one-five," read El. She looked up at Ari.

"I wonder if she still lives there?" said Fang.

"Anne has a secret room underneath the closet by the garage," Ari blurted.

They all looked at him now.

He shrugged. "Just...thought I should let you know."

Max got up and crossed the room to sit next to him, biting her lip. Her brow furrowed. "What do you mean, 'she has a secret room'?"

"Like, a secret room with a trap door and everything."

They were all watching him carefully.

"I followed Anne's scent since I couldn't hear her anywhere in the house, and it lead me to the closet with carpet on the floor. There was a door underneath it when I lifted it up."

There was a beat.

"Did you open it?" Fang asked.

"No," said Ari, "but I could feel her coming up stairs, and I ran."

He let this sit with them for a while. Max looked as though she was trying to come up with something to say, or like she was formulating a plan. She met Fang's eyes, and they shared a silent conversation while the rest of the kids watched.

"I don't like this," El said quietly to Iggy.

The wind blew warm air through the open window. Iggy put his hands on El's shoulders and hugged her.

"We leave tomorrow," Max ordered finally.

* * *

><p><strong>If you're reading this, please review!<strong>

**~Steph**


	25. Roaches

**Hello, friends! I'm sorry I didn't update sooner, my family ****had a Japanese exchange student staying with us for the last three weeks and I had little time to write because I'd been busy showing her American movies, American foods, the weird things Americans actually buy at the supermarket, Walmart, and driving her all over tarnation in my rickety stationwagon. I also house-sat for a family that got all upset with me because their dogs were acting poorly while they were gone, as if that was my fault. They people acted like I was a complete psychopath and chewed me out for not being perfect. Like, dude, I try really, really hard all the time, but _apparently_ I can't do anything right. ****And I also had to finish up my summer class and do a big presentation, which ate more of my time.**

**I'm also blogging a lot! I blog about a really awful condition I have called misophonia, something that I try to turn into humor. It's mostly sarcasm, but sarcasm makes the world go 'round, right? My blog is geared towards raising awareness about the condition and towards encouraging others who might have it. We all need a little hope and encouragement in our lives, I think. Look me up on Tumblr, my username is "powertotheoctopus"!**

**And finally, I apologize because literally nothing gets accomplished in this chapter. It**** was supposed to be a lot longer, but I couldn't get the last scene quite right and I want to spend more time on it. I've literally written the next scene three times and I'm still not happy with it. I feel like opening my head and throwing handfuls of brain at the wall. Anyway, I'm anticipating it to be a rough go, so I decided to post this much for you now because I'm not actually a psychopath and really, really love my readers!**

**Please enjoy :)**

* * *

><p>The morning was raw when the five slipped out Fang's window. They could not yet see the sun, but it already had illuminated the horizon, bathing the desert land in honey gold. The air was fresh and nice, already eighty degrees out. It felt good underneath Max's wings as they took to the sky.<p>

She was paranoid that nothing had inhibited her flock to leave the house with the red door. If Anne had heard them packing or moving about, she did not call attention to it. It was like she had completely missed their departure, and that worried Max. What if Anne was planning something really bad? She probably was, and there was hardly a doubt in Max's mind about that. She half expected a bazooka to shoot through their little V in the air.

Looking back, she observed her family. El was strapped to Iggy with three different belts – one across her shoulders, one around her hips, and one to hold her feet in place. There had been a lot of experimentation to get to this point, Fang had told her one time. Ari had abandoned his crutches at the house because he said he didn't need them anymore, he could walk just fine. The braces were still around his shins, and he still walked like Quasimodo, but she wasn't about to argue with him. _Pick your battles, _Lou had once told her.

When she shifted her gaze to Fang, he gave her a smile that only she would have noticed. Max slowed so that she was flying to him. "Okay, so Fey's house is _that_ direction, correct?" she asked, pointing.

Fang nodded silently, reaching into his pocket to pull out the folded Google Map he had printed. _We are _so _high tech,_ Max thought.

"North-East," Fang confirmed.

She didn't know how to explain it, but she and her family had been born with an innate sense of direction. They didn't need to be told which way South was, they just knew. In her biology class at Legacy High a few months ago, she had learned that birds could feel the magnetic fields of the earth, and that they could navigate by the stars. It was instinct that drove them to migrate when they did, something that she was sure couldn't have just evolved. Max knew this instinct, because she too could feel it when she was _supposed _to do something. It wasn't a question of whether she wanted to do it or not, her instinct told her what to do.

_You're special that way, Max, _said the Voice.

In surprise, Max yelped and dropped several feet.

"Max!" Fang called, while the others let out similar distresses.

Her head started to hurt, and she pumped her wings so that she was again flying level with the others, rubbing her temples. "I'm okay," she said to them. "Just – headache, is all."

_Nice of you to drop by, _Max grumbled.

_You're choosing to find Fey, _the Voice stated.

She focused on remembering to flap. _Yeah, _she retorted spitefully, _because it's important to my family. _

The Voice made a sighing sound with its mind. _You're making the wrong decision, _it said.

_Um, and who are you to tell me what I should do?_

_I want to help, Max. You need to listen to me. _

_I don't need your help! _Max snapped.

_Go to San Francisco, _the Voice continued, _that is where you need to go. _

Max clenched her jaw. She noticed Fang out of the corner of her eye looking concerned. _Where I'm needed is with my family. We're going to find Fey first, and then maybe then I'll consider following your suggestions. kapish? _

_Suit yourself. _

And then the Voice was gone, but the headache still lingered. Max closed her eyes for what she thought was a few seconds, but as Fang told her later, was actually much longer. There were so many things going on in her mind. Literally, Ari's dying wish was to meet his mom and get some answers from her, and Max wanted to grant him that so he could die in peace. Max, also, was curious about the woman, as she was the surrogate mother of both Max and Fang.

On the other hand, if the FBI hadn't actually been the FBI and they _weren't _going to take down the Institute, Max knew that she and the others had to do it themselves. Itex was unprecedented, unchallenged, and impermeable. They had to be stopped. She didn't know what exactly they were supposed to find on Rhode Island Street, but it was apparently kind of important, given the hullaballoo the Voice was giving her. But the Voice could also be leading her into a trap. She didn't know that the Voice was friendly, just like she didn't know if Anne was really a secret agent. The Voice could be telling her to get to San Francisco just so the whitecoats could jump on her and make her churn out babies. _Ugh. _And her head hurt now.

Max opened her eyes, light penetrating her momentary darkness.

The flock had surrounded her on three sides. They all knew better than to break her concentration, so they floated and stared without speaking.

"Okay, nobody _panic_," Max said, trying her best to not sound psychotic, "but that was the Voice. He's trying to tell me what to do, but he's gone now and we're going to ignore him. All good?"

But of course it was not okay because these were the four most forward people she knew – granted, the _only _people she knew – and they all decided to talk at once."_One at a time!_" Max had to shout over them and the pain screaming in her head.

El raised her hand from underneath Iggy's larger form. She yelled over the wind as it rushed past, "What did it say?"

"He thinks going to find Fey is a bad idea and that we should instead go on a wild boar chase to San Francisco," Max answered, "Mostly just the stuff I told you yesterday in the laundry room."

"What's in San Francisco?" Ari called.

"The Rhode Island Street Institute for Higher Learning," Max droned out.

"What's that?"

"I have no idea! Some variation of the Institute, is the best I can guess."

There was a pause. Max knew that Fang was waiting until they could talk later in private, because he always asked the questions she didn't want to answer, let alone in front of all the others.

"I still want to meet my mom," said Ari, trailing behind her, his awkward wings beating erratically.

"I know," she responded, looking back at him. "I want to meet her too."

They passed into a cloud then, which was not fluffy like a cotton ball like most people think. It was wet, mostly, and cold. When they resurfaced, Fang asked, "So…are we sticking to the plan?"

"Business as usual," Max confirmed, not really knowing what else she could say. They flew silently for a while then. Max rolled up her sleeve and looked at the bar code tattoo on her arm, studying the angry red lines criss-crossing it from when she had tried to cut it off herself. A surge of rage washed over her, but she chose begrudgingly to let it go. There was plenty of time to get angry later. All she knew was that she wanted Itex destroyed, and ter Borcht killed. She really hoped that Fey could help them make that happen.

They flew four hours, not including the one break because Ella had to pee. "I told you not to drink anything before we left!" Iggy had exclaimed, blind hands trying to unbind himself from her once they'd landed.

"So _kill me _if I like juice!" she'd shouted back.

It was now around ten-o-clock in the morning and the sun was already starting to beat down heavily on their backs. Nobody had had the bright idea to bring sunscreen. Iggy wouldn't shut up about how his lily-white ginger skin was going to burn, and that he was going to start peeling like Satan's sulfuric dandruff, but they tried to tune him out.

A town in the distance began to make itself more evident, evolving from a stubble on the dry ground to postage-stamp-sized lots.

"Is that it?" Max asked Fang as soon as she saw it.

He pulled out his printed map from the pocket of his jeans, squinting at it. "Yep, Hawthorne."

Sadly, it was hard to land anywhere without people seeing them, so they had to veer off at a distance where they'd still look like oversized birds. They biffed behind a hill. As she landed, sand found its way into Max's shoes and she had to pull them off and knock them against the ground to get it out, muttering profanities. Ari had a more difficult landing, seeing as his wings were grafted on after his birth and less natural to him than theirs. But he didn't complain, even while examining the substantial scrapes on his palms where he tried to catch himself. Fang stepped over to help unbuckle Ella from her blind counterpart.

"As always, a pleasure to fly with you, Ms. Martinez," Iggy said when he was free. "And thank you for being a _freak_-uent flyer."

Ella groaned loudly.

They walked for the next hour until they reached a sign that said, "WELCOME TO HAWTHORNE", marking the town they believed Fey lived in. It wasn't by any means large, and the buildings were all weathered and worn like they'd been in one too many sandstorms. Yucca plants were everywhere, and Max swore she saw a tumbleweed. It was a little too quiet and vacant for her liking. She nudged Fang and he pulled out his map again, flipping it over to see where he had marked where they would stay.

"Sand N Sage Motel," he read. "Sounds classy."

"Aren't we?"

Because they didn't have a ton of money to spare, Max decided they should get one room with two beds. The rent was forty-five dollars a night, which she thought was pretty reasonable for five people. The man at the counter had looked surprised to see them, but El smiled brightly and grabbed the key before he could make any comments, thanked him, and led the others out the door. The building wasn't nice; it smelled like cigarettes and had a flat roof. It was made with a rough, cheap-looking stucco.

Their door was at the very end of the row nearest to the road. It read "105", with faux gold lettering and the five was hanging sideways. It opened to reveal a room that was slightly worse-off than Max had expected. The walls were a nasty shade of yellow and were hung with cheap paintings. There was a small, scuffed table across from two beds, which were draped with comforters the colors of, um, vomit. A bedside table stood between the beds with a quaint lamp on top of it, the shade torn.

Ella happened a glance at the carpet and immediately said, "I'm not sleeping on the floor."

Max followed El's eyes and had the same sentiment. In one word, the room could have been described as "ugh".

They tiredly dropped their backpacks onto the beds, watching the dust fly as soon as they hit the comforters. Max had a coughing fit and covered her mouth with her elbow, worrying she would die right then and there of asphyxiation. Iggy was feeling his way from the door to the closest bed, when he suddenly froze, eyes wide. "I just stepped on something crunchy," he said in a horrified voice.

Ella leaned over and checked it for him.

"Roaches!" she yelped, leaping onto the bed with an elf-like agility that even Legolas would have coveted. Iggy followed the sound of her screaming, clambering onto the bed after her.

"This is my home now," Iggy gestured to his vicinity. "This bed. I live here now."

Unamused, Fang looked at Max."Who's sleeping where?"

"I call the bed!" El exclaimed, holding a pillow on top of her head as if that solidified her claim.

Ari was the biggest by far, and Iggy was taller than Fang. She and El were smaller, so maybe Fang could fit on the bed with them."Okay, Ari and Ig, bed number one, and then me, El, and Fang on bed two."

"But Fang farts in his sleep!" Ella protested, pointing accusingly at Fang with her pillow.

"I do _not!_" Fang snapped.

"How would you know?!" she countered.

"Fang doesn't fart in his sleep," Max seethed, her patience waxing. "That's Iggy."

Iggy was defensive. "I get indigestion!"

Max's stomach growled audibly, and she remembered how hungry she was. She was a little worried that if they went out in public, Anne may have issued an Amber Alert or something and their faces would be plastered on windows, like they were missing children. That would be hilarious. _Mr. ter Borcht? We have your mutant freaks down here at the station._

"Do you think we're on the news yet?" she asked Fang, who was standing beside her and leaning up against the table.

He thought about it. "It wouldn't surprise me, if she's working for Itex."

"That's what I thought," Max agreed grimly. "We have to eat."

"I know," Fang said, "I was thinking that too."

"McDonalds?"

"It's a long walk."

"There was a grocery store down the street, maybe we could pick up some deli meat and sandwich bread?"

From across the room, laying on her back in the bed closest to the door, El said, "In all seriousness, _anything_ sounds appetizing right now."

Iggy poked her leg as he lay head-to-toe with her on the bed. "Desert rat?"

She shrugged, "Nothing we haven't eaten before."

"Pizza, " Ari suggested hopefully, taking a break from clicking to the roaches under the bed, which was completely _disgusting._

Max shared a silent conversation with Fang, communicating without even needing to speak. _He's dying, he can eat whatever the hell he wants._

"There's a pizza place down on E Street," Fang contributed, pulling out the map.

She had a hollow feeling in her chest when she smiled at Ari. "Pizza it is."

Max grabbed her switchblade as an afterthought and put it in her pocket before they walked out the door. _Just in case._

"I think maybe El and I should stay here," Iggy said as they discussed walking over to Fey's house after pizza. "I mean, what would _you _do if five – well maybe _four_ – tall teenagers and a midget suddenly showed up at your door asking serious life questions?

"I'll have you know I'm taller than the average girl!" Ella exclaimed, and then said more calm and collectedly, "She's your guy's birthmom, not ours."

With a frown, Max considered this, but said, "I don't want to take the chance of getting separated from you guys. You're all coming."

"Twelve-o-clock," Fang said quickly, his gaze trailing down the street in the direction of the woman's house. Max followed his vision and her stomach did a flip-flop. An unmarked white van was parked on a corner marked "D St.". Its color was almost blinding in the hot Arizona sun. A satellite dish perched atop the roof and turned slowly around, facing and focusing on where the five of them stood.

_That was quick,_ Max thought.

"No sudden movements," she said tightly to the others, putting an arm out around Ari's shoulder, "Duck behind the pizza place."

She tried to keep her racing thoughts under control, but she couldn't help thinking of all the possible things that could come out of that van. How long had the flock been in Hawthorne? Two hours? It could be the United States government for all she knew, but it was far more likely in her mind that Anne had been working with Itex. And they all knew what Itex sent after people.

Max scanned the street with her raptor-vision, looking for places to hide, or escape into the air. She caught Fang's eye as he led El, Iggy, and Ari behind the next building. Max hid in the alley and peered around the corner as far as she dared. But when she looked, the van was gone.

_This is just beautiful._

"They're gone, they know where we're going!" she said in an urgent whisper to Fang while he lead them behind another house, sideling down the main road.

Fang grabbed El's arm, swearing, pulling Iggy along as he held onto El's opposite hand. Ari was preoccupied sniffing the air.

"Do you have anything?" Max whispered to him.

Ari's expression was grim. "I'm willing to bet those are Erasers in there."

"I guessed as much."

"We can't hide forever," Ari said in a low voice. "They're going to find us. Max, let me distract them - you and the others go find Fey and make sure she's safe."

"You're not going anywhere by yourself," Fang said, surprising Max. "No one gets left behind, not even you."

"Fang, I can take them," the Eraser argued quietly, "Think of Ella, she's never fought a day in her life, they'll tear her to pieces!"

El rolled her eyes.

"Um, guys, they're coming this way," Iggy said, listening intently with his eyes closed and head cocked slightly to the right.

Fang grasped Ari's sleeve. "We're staying together," he said firmly.

"Guys, run!" Max barked as the van came into view, taking off with the speed of an Olympic runner. The flock followed on her heels, ducking behind houses and jumping over fences as effortlessly as if they were picking daisies. Max scraped shins and earned splinters in her palms from scrambling over the wooden barriers. A bulldog lunged at her while she balanced herself over the fence. Their hands bled, but they kept at it, stopping only occasionally to let Ari catch up. He was straggling. "Guys, I can't…keep up, my legs…" he panted.

"Then we'll have to confront them," Fang said, chest heaving and breathing hard. "The next street over, come on."

Max cast a look at El. The girl did not look afraid. El's fingers were intertwined with her blind companion's and her eyes were as hard as stone. Ari's fists were clenched and he sniffed the air again with the ghost of a snarl across his face. She could tell Iggy was listening hard. Between those two, they would know exactly where the van was and where it was going.

Fang's black eyes met hers.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Max said. "Let's join the party." She looked both ways just like Lou had always taught them, and stepped out onto the road.

The rest of them followed, and within a minute, the van came screeching down the road and came to a halt before the flock. There was a tense moment where nothing happened, but then movement inside the van caught their attention. The window of the driver's seat whirred down, and the hot Nevada sun poured into the darker interior, revealing a clean-shaven white man. He looked as if he could have been a model in another life. But he was here, and he leaned out, looking first at Ari, and then at Max. The eyes of her enemy were yellow. Max slipped her switchblade out of her pocket and snapped it open.

"Hey kids," he crooned, "want some candy?"

"Why, did you make it yourself?" Max snarled, and then stabbed him in the eye. The Eraser howled in pain, and he fully morphed to take a swipe at her through the open window. Max jumped back just in time as the doors of the van swung wide open. Four other Erasers piled out, and they each launched themselves at a kid. The Eraser she had stabbed stumbled out and moved in Max's direction, snarling sadistically.

"I don't care about the others, I just want Max _alive!_" he barked.

Max watched out of the corner of her eye as Fang battled a grey mutant. He wore a grimace on his face, blocking each punch perfectly and landing painful blows at the Eraser in front of him. To Max's surprise, El was holding her own just fine, as she had jumped on the back of her attacker and used her arms to suffocate it around its neck. The Eraser choked and swiping uncoordinatedly, falling to its knees. Ari was already standing over the body of one of his kin, blood dripping from his dagger-like claws. It was the first time in months that Max had seen him in full morph, and it haunted her of the time at the Institute when he assaulted her.

Her vision went red, and she kicked the Eraser she had just stabbed so hard in the chest that its breath exited in a _whoosh _and she heard his ribs crack beneath her heel.

"I am never," she growled, "going," she punched him in the snout, "back," she ducked a lethal swipe to her midsection, "again!" And then she took her knife and brought it up under his chin into his head. Blood poured from the wound and the hybrid collapsed onto the ground, motionless.

Then out of nowhere an explosion of intense heat knocked Max to the asphalt beside the creature she had just slain. Through her fog, she heard El let out a short cry, and watched in slow-motion while Iggy covered her body with his own. The white van had somehow exploded and was now flying in all directions. The remaining two Erasers had been standing too close to the explosion. They now screamed in agony as their patchy fur burned and boiled atop their flesh.

Max scrambled to her feet as soon as things stopped falling from the sky. Both Erasers looked like baked potatoes. One opened his good eye and snarled at her, but could not move its paw in her direction. Fang appeared beside Max and watched with her as their remaining attackers stirred painfully. He looked at her with a solemn glance and then stepped over to snap the first one's neck with a swift movement of his hands. Its life ended with a sickening _crack. _

The second had stopped moving. Max checked to see if it was still breathing, and then broke his neck like Fang had just done. Just for good measure.

Her head hurt like crazy.

"We need to get out of here," Fang said in a scratchy voice, pressing the back of his hand to his split lip while it bled. "People would have seen that."

She saw Ari out of the side of her vision staring vacantly at the Eraser Max had stabbed through the eye.

"He was my friend," he said quietly, nudging the creature with his boot, and then shaking his head. "_Was._"

They heard Ella coughing from beneath Iggy's body at the same time. "He got hit in the head," she rasped, trying to keep herself from falling into complete hysteria, "He's not moving, Max!"

Max's heart dropped into her stomach when she was Iggy's still form, the gash right above his temple. She heard her blood rushing through her ears as Fang pulled Iggy off of Ella and stretched him on his back. Fang held El back while Max placed her ear over Iggy's mouth to check his respiration, and, not hearing anything, placed two fingers on his pale neck to see if he had a pulse.

"Nothing," Max's voice wavered. The sound of sirens echoed in the distance. "Fang, grab him," she ordered, taking the blind boy's opposite. Pain shot up from Max's left arm and she realized she'd been sliced pretty bad from her pinky to her forearm. She bit her tongue and tried to shift most Iggy's weight to her right hand. Ari grabbed Iggy's feet and they all lifted him a ways from the burn site, hiding finally behind a tall wooden fence. His form left a trail of blood.

Max reached out with her good hand to touch El's shoulder. "It could be shock," Max said hurriedly with her heart hammering. "You know CPR, right? You took that athletic training class?"

"Yeah," El stammered, "I-I learned it in school."

"Good, 'cause I can't do it," Max said, holding up her injury. "I never learned to do it properly anyway."

El got on her knees and closed her eyes for a few seconds before she took a deep breath, plugged Iggy's nose with her fingers, and placed her lips upon his. She blew two puffs of air into his lungs, then pressed her hands onto his chest, counting thirty chest compressions out loud. She checked for breathing, and hearing nothing, puffed more air into his mouth.

"Come on, Ig," Max murmured, struggling to breathe properly herself.

After what seemed like hundreds of compressions, Iggy finally stirred, blinking as he realized he was mouth-to-mouth with El. He croaked and she immediately drew back in surprise, falling into the red dirt behind her. Iggy tried to sit up. "Happy to see you too," he wheezed, coughing profusely as he breathed in dust. His head wound was bleeding into his eye.

El was nearly in tears."If you ever die again, I'm going to rip out your spine and beat you with it," she said, swallowing hard. Iggy continued coughing while Max peeked around the corner.

"Um, not that this isn't cute, but we should really go _now_."

"_Where do we hide_ in a town this size?" Ari exasperated, licking a three very large and bleeding claw marks on his arm.

"Home," Max helped Iggy to his feet. "Back to Fey's."

"In a bloody mess?"

"If you have any other good ideas, I'd be _happy to hear them_!"

* * *

><p><strong>Oh, and you may notice that I deleted the prologue. This story seriously needs a facelift. I started writing it when I was sixteen and I'm now nineteen and my writing style has changed quite a bit. I agree that you guys have been right - the Fax that I wrote last year right after I got out of the freakin' <em>mental hospital<em> is too heavy for the characters, so I will edit all of that sometime soonish and let you know where I changed some things. **

**I will post the next chapter once I finally get it perfected! It's really important, so it needs to be just right. I hope you liked the chapter despite nothing getting done! **

**Please, please review! I actually read and try to respond to each one :) ****My reviews give me strength when I have none - I literally will go read them when I'm feeling stupid and handicapped because they raise me up like Josh Groban's bra. **

**Thank you for reading! God bless :)**

**~ Steph **


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